A Walk through the Beit Jala Checkpoint with Machsom Watch

Our last stop before heading back to Tantur for  debriefing and last good-byes to  friends and fellow “walkers” was at the Beit Jala Checkpoint. From time to time during our last day, the bus passed back and forth across the Green Line and, frankly, I couldn’t determine a rhyme or reason to when we were required to stop for Israeli guards to check the bus and our passports and when we did not.  It was always a bit stressful for me to have armed guides filing up and back down the bus aisle; and one time I was personally ordered not to take pictures out the window and was closely supervised while I erased one of my photos.  Also, at one point the security guards detained a gentleman from our bus who did not have his passport with him.  This caused quite a stir as the Hebrew speakers from our group began to wrangle with the guards.  Not always the best approach….    One quick thinking young man from our group got on the phone with Gershon who quickly got us sorted out and back underway.

But our current  objective was for the bus to take us to a place to unload where Ronnie Hammerman, a volunteer with the organization Machsom Watch, would meet with us,  answer questions and accompany us through the checkpoint on foot.  Machsom Watch is a long-standing NGO (since 2001) comprised of  Israeli women who volunteer to regularly  monitor individual checkpoints, document and record their observations and intervene when it will serve a constructive purpose.

I thought back to earlier  conversations with our Ein Kerem friend, Salach, who acknowledged that  his experience at the checkpoint definitely improved when Machsom Watch volunteers began attending.  Today, Ronnie is a familiar face to both Israeli security forces and the many thousands of Palestinians attempting to move back and forth through the checkpoint.

Although on a busy street corner and even after we moved under the large warehouse style shelter, it was difficult to hear Ronnie.  But she made an effort to explain the role  Machsom Watch is trying to play, although later, Yael an IPCRI staffer and another long time volunteer with Machsom Watch, confided that there is a long running debate on whether or not Machsom Watch  is aiding the Occupation by making their job easier.   Interesting….

A very long line of cars waited on the street side of the checkpoint, but the wait on the pedestrian side was relatively short at the time  we arrived.   Even so, the approach to the check point, through a narrow caged corridor ending at a turnstile regulated by security forces, had a distinctively prison-like feel.  Each person had to wait for a green light indicating that he or she could pass through the turnstile.  At that point the procedure was  much like most airports where all “carry through” items had to be placed on a conveyor belt and run through an xray machine.  Each individual also walked through an xray and then had to show permits (for internationals that meant passports) to guards seated behind bullet proof glass.   Once again, guards insisted on restricting picture taking, and a young woman in our group was detained while guards came out from behind the glass and supervised as she erased several photos.  I’m not quite sure I understand this precaution because at this point in timem the checkpoint experience has been very well documented, but then the lesson for me was how erratic and arbitrary this process feels at any given time.  Basically security forces can ask anything at any time and there are very few alternatives.  And when the checkpoint is closed, well, that’s it! No one gets through!   Aside from the photo incident most of us got through.  However, one of our ranks, an Egyptian diplomat serving at the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv, who passed through the official checkpoint, was accosted by three armed guards as he emerged on the other side.   And again, there was quite a fracas as they insisted on re-examining his papers, questioned him extensively and were considering detaining him.  (A bit of racial profiling, perhaps?) Fortunately,  Ronnie got us straightened out, and from that point on we proceeded without further incident.  But the whole checkpoint experience left two distinct and oddly contrasting impressions. The first was the highly charged atmosphere of fear among the  young Israeli soldiers, although they were all obviously heavily armed and  never engaged any individual in less than groups of two or three.  I can only imagine the weight  responsibility they would feel if even one assailant got through on their watch - a bit much for 18 and 19 year old kids.

The second impression was the mix of resignation and frustration on the other side - folks with very limited  options, who face this tedious and intimidating operation day in and day out, wasting hours and hours going out and then coming back in.  It struck me as extremely unwise to criminalize an entire population in an attempt to weed out  aberrant and twisted individuals.  And in fact, this point has not been lost on the Israeli military, and several alternate procedures are under consideration. But Ronnie expressed some serious reservations.  One option is to “privatize” security operations.  Machsom Watch is strongly opposed  as privatization would mean  much of the “operation” could take place out of public view; consequently, it would become much more difficult to hold the government accountable, which, at least at this point, is still possible.  Another strategy on the surface seemed to be moving in a much better direction, which is to hire Arabic speaking civilians to run the checkpoints and to humanize the process to a much greater degree.   Over course there is also  the whole issue of removing many of the checkpoints altogether and restoring greater freedom of movement within the West Bank, which of course would also imply limiting expansion of the settlements. So on and on we go….
As we rode back to Tantur, the final leg of our three days on the bus, Gershon asked us for our reactions to going through the checkpoint.   Although we were all clearly uncomfortable with the experience, he asked us to consider a government’s obligation to protect its citizens, and, if one agrees with this point-of-view, how might this obligation be achieved in an effective and reasonable manner.   This comment triggered quite a “heated” conversation (… if we were anywhere else other than Israel one might call it an argument …) between Yael  and Gershon.   After 3 days in their company, I have no doubt that both are strongly committed to ending the Occupation and equal advocates of  creating of two sovereign states, the question remains, what do we each do when we get up in the morning to manifest this reality?  This is not always as clearcut as we would like, and the “take away” for me is to get busy engaging the questions, rather than clinging to hard and fast notions of right and wrong.   I simply have to believe that justice, human rights and peace are achievable, and we must be  willing to examine the difficult questions with an eye for the humanity on both sides of a conflict.  Afterall, this was why I decided to make this trip in the first place.