Nablus
Huwwara and Beit
Furik checkpoints, MON PM 13:00-18:00, 1 Dec
2003.
Watchers: S.M., Sh.G., A.K.
When we arrived at Huwwara, we saw no detainees
and the
line was short, so we
continued on to Beit Furik. It was one o'clock in the
afternoon.
We parked where the Palestinian transit taxis always park.
We met three
transit drivers, we know of them, and they told us that at 11
o'clock a
military jeep arrived and the soldiers demanded IDs and their car
keys, with
no explanation. They returned the IDs immediately and took the car
keys
saying that they will be returned soon.
The checkpoint is relatively empty. From the direction of
Nablus there is
nobody. In the other direction there are a few people and one car
with an
Israeli license plate loaded with sugar and flour (made in Israel),
the
driver is from Nazareth. After a while the driver is called and he
parks in
the middle of the checkpoint. Some time after that another car
arrives from
Nablus and they do what they call "back to back"
loading.
Akiva, who we met last week recognizes us and approaches
us in a friendly
manner. Last week we learned that those who live on other side of
the checkpoint and do not have a permit could not pass. Today,
however, he can pass, no
problem, after all, he lives there, where is he to go? On the other
hand,
students and teachers from University in Nablus are not allowed to
go to the university as of yesterday, because, the soldiers tell
us,
inflammatory material was found there. They know it, the soldiers
tell us
because hardly anyone from there has tried to pass and those who
did were
refused and sent back. As to weather those who are turned back are
given an
explanation--ofcourse not, we are told by the soldiers who are
astonished at
the question.
We asked Akiva about the car keys that were taken from the
transit drivers.
He knew immediately what we were talking about, the patrol jeep, he
called
and our forces affirmed that they have the car keys. In response to
our
question as to why the keys were taken, he asked me why I'm asking.
In order
to understand how it works, I respond. The soldier answered: there
is no
logic.
Akiva said that they crossed a red line. The red line is not
something that
is actually marked, no, it's not actually clear, even Akiva doesn't
know
where, or what it is, but the Palestinians play with it (with the
unmarked
and unclear red line). In response to our question--why is there a
red line
(an actual one or not) Akiva explains that if they were allowed to
stand
closer, they would invariably move closer and closer until
eventually they
would reach the checkpoint. But why, we ask, would they not pass a
red line
(a real one or not) which is very far away from the checkpoint and
from
which people must trudge a long way and move closer and closer to
the
checkpoint? Why would the taxi drivers come closer and closer only
from a
conveniently located red line (real or not) and not from a distant
one?
Akiva promised to return the car keys, but when the shift
changed at 2
o'clock and Shai arrived he also promised to return the car keys
soon. But
the keys were not returned. At 4 o'clock we called the Humanitarian
Center
(so called) of the army and at 6:30 the drivers told us that they
finally
received the car keys. During this whole time they stood there and
waited.
They couldn't work, it got dark, and they
waited.
We were told that an internal complaint was logged against
Nadav
Mizrahi--the soldier who the previous week used extreme racist
language,
cursed, went crazy and threatened people with his weapon, pushed
people who
were waiting on line and when I intervened, I too got similar
treatment--that is--I was pushed with a rifle pressed to my body.
He is now
in custody and will never again return to the checkpoint. They
didn't want
to go into the details of the charges against
him.
The soldiers wanted to talk to us for various reasons. This is not
the
first time that I feel that a response to their desire to talk is
problematic. Usually we avoid such requests which seems to express
a desire
for love and holding (in other words, to eat the cake and leave it
whole--to
be a criminal, but also to be contained and a victim--all at the
same time),
because we feel that responding to this desire of the soldiers
would make us
their collaborators. It would be helping them not look in the
mirror, it
would help them soften any self-criticism or conflict, to dissipate
the
dissonance that they must feel, and therefore, to help them be
occupiers.
Therefore we, in keeping with our ideological tendency, strictly
refrain
from chatting with them, from connecting with them, from giving
them the
feeling that we are together, and because our souls cannot bear all
this, we
remain isolated from them, horrified, trying our best not to be
heatedly
aggressive but by this maintenance of distance express our
political
convictions. It is part of what we perceive Machsomwatch is and
what it
isn't and shouldn't be. Also in order not to betray because
connecting with
the soldiers would, in our view, be a betrayal.
But this time we made exception because a principal, in our
opinion, should
not be more important than a situation and also because talking in
this case
provided us with oceans of information that we thought was worth
collecting
and taking from them. But it was a dilemma, in any case. There was
a moment
when we really were worried about what those who are standing on
line would
feel, seeing us and not knowing why we are so casually connecting
and
talking with those who prevent them from living their lives. The
body burns
with guilt, shame and regret.
Huwwara South checkpoint: 7 detainees.
The checkpoint is slow, there is almost no movement, people
complain that they have been there for hours, the detainees two
hours. Susi goes to talk with the detainees, the soldiers close the
checkpoint without announcing it, it's just closed all of a sudden,
those
who are standing on line approach us gently and ask us to move away
because
they are doing this because of us. We moved away and the traffic
resumed,
as before, very slowly.
One of the children who works at the checkpoint told us
that his cart was
confiscated and that they just don't want them to work, and that
the soldier
told him that there are too many children. Shira approached the
soldier who
told her that the boy should come later, when, in an hour, she
asked, no,
tomorrow, he said.
Shai, who is commander in the south arrives from some
patrol and when he
comes the pace quickens a bit. He promises to find out something
and indeed
he does. His presence brings a small but real improvement to the
atmosphere. As to the detainees he says that their documents are
being
checked but it seems to us that it can't possibly take that long
and that in
fact this is the famous educational drill, a punishment.
We call Offer, the "humanitarian " officer who is on the
other side of the checkpoint. "He answers that he is busy,
again we request that somebody find out if perhaps there are
answers as to the detainees and then went to the northern
side.
Huwwara North checkpoint: We notice a
new canvas tent that is located opposite the booth, at the bottom
of the slope, around it there are about 40 people, a long, tight
line of maybe two hundred and fifty people, some of them under the
roof, squeezed into the narrow passageway and then some more near
them,
there is an ambulance with flashing lights and nobody approaches
it. Ofer
is the only one checking the people on the line, as he shouts,
"Wahad,
Wahad!"(one at a time), his face angry and tense.
One soldier in the booth
with a weapon pointed at the people as they pass by him and the
commander of
the checkpoint, an officer, stands in the passageway and mostly
screams
ferociously at anybody he encounters. Shut up! Get everybody out of
here! He
screams to somebody in order to disperse those people who are not
waiting
for the Ids or have been told to wait there. "Wahad,
Wahad! he approaches a
woman very close and shouts to her face - "Wahad,
Wahad! he repeats and
emphasizes self-righteously, pleased with himself, cruel, and her
face turns
gray. "What is not clear here?" he continues, a baby
cries, "Go sleep in the
street!" he barks again at somebody…he who tries to bypass the
line knows that
he does not pass, he says to somebody else. Two women, one who is
in an
advanced stage of pregnancy, and the other in the middle of her
pregnancy,
with small children, try to be seen, Ofer doesn't look at them, the
children cry, they want to pass without waiting for hours, they try
to catch
his eye unsuccessfully, so that he will see that they are there,
pregnant,
with children but he sees nothing, he doesn't look, doesn't see, he
doesn't
want to, behind Offer is another pregnant woman with her husband
waiting for
him, talking to him and he doesn't answer, she, it turns out is
after the
ninth month, breathing heavily, and her husband was afraid to have
her wait
on the line and moved with her to the side. "They will kill a
soldier or two
in the end," Offer says callously with his back to them. She
is pregnant, I
say, look, he shouldn't have bypassed the line, I was afraid for
her, the
man tried to say to Offer's stubborn back. They know, he could have
stood
on line, now they have to wait a bit, but she is in such advanced
pregnancy,
I say, look at them, time passes, we all wait, the woman is
breathing
heavily …and I look at Offer without stopping, from close up,
exploiting my
corrupt "right" to be that close, so blatant, alright
then go take your Ids
back and pass he says and they go. "Offer sent us, I hastened
to tell a
soldier who immediately threatened them with his rifle. They got
their Ids
back and passed. The officer in charge of the checkpoint continues
to shout,
touches the shoulder of a man and screams at him, in Hebrew to get
away from
there, and some other things that I don't remember, and the man
answers in
Arabic, "he doesn't know Hebrew", we tell the officer,
"he understands very
well", he says, "he doesn't understand just like he
doesn't understand
Arabic". But the man went. He didn't wait. Many people gave
up.
And despite all this, after we arrived the line began to move, like
magic,
Offer, insensitive and upset, unapproachable, passes people, first
the
women, and slowly the men too, almost everybody passes, an very old
man is
led by his grandson, walks slowly towards the exit, the soldier
aims his
rifle in the old man's face, 20 centimeters from him, it was
already dark
and we had to go, Susi protested but he did not move his rifle, we
waited
because he was so old and walked so slowly that it took time, with
the rifle
pointed to his face and everybody looking, how could a 19 yr. old
soldier
aim his rifle at a man who is at least 80 yr. old,sick, and unable
to carry
his body alone and needs to be supported, how could he keep aiming
the rifle
and doesn't stop.
Many of the detainees were holding notebooks and we
thought they were
probably students from Al-Quds University, because Akiva told us
that today teachers and students from there were not allowed
passage. We asked, no, they are
from another university and we also asked the soldiers, no there is
no
prohibition of passage for teachers and students from Al-Quds, no,
no we
didn't hear about that, no no we didn't hear about any provocation,
after
all, dozens of them have passes through Huwwara that day.
We left.
We had already heard that the soldiers had left the Zaatra
(Tapuah)
checkpoint. On the way there it was still in existence. On the way
back we
saw that it was true. They left. The Americans were probably
patrolling
here today, Susi said.