Border song

Major Oz Arad, a company commander in the battalion, backs up the soldiers' statements. "In practice, more recently, we have more confrontations with Israeli citizens than with Palestinians," he acknowledged. The settlers express their displeasure with the function of the checkpoint by refusing to show their identity cards or not allowing soldiers to inspect their cars.

"They don't look upon us favorably," says Sergeant Daniel Shapira, a soldier in the battalion's Eitan company. "They try to say 'but I have a sticker' and there are others who say 'leftist, I'm an expellee from Gush Katif.' There were also incidents of spitting and cries of 'nazi.'"

Anger on the part of Israeli citizens at the checkpoints stems from the present tension between the IDF and some of the settlers, following the evacuation of the outposts.

"Daniella Weiss really doesn't like us, and lets us know," said one of the battalion soldiers of the settler leader, who passes through the checkpoint regularly.

An ice cream truck full of egg

Israeli citizens are involved in much of the crime that occurs here, mostly the smuggling of goods through the checkpoint. In some cases, settlers are also involved. Over the last year, the battalion detained some 1,200 illegal entrants trying to get into Israel; they are aware that many do manage to enter. The illegal entrants smuggling industry (each illegal entrant pays a smuggler around 350 shekels) is thriving, and each week vehicles with concealed spaces are discovered at the checkpoint.

Two weeks ago, an Israeli citizen traveling in a private car was detained at the checkpoint. On the passenger seat was an IDF uniform shirt with lieutenant ranks on it. The soldiers still decided to check the car and found two Palestinians in the trunk.

"There were also settlers who shouted at us 'you're doing selection to the Jews,'" said one battalion officer.

In addition to people, there are also many attempts to smuggle goods. Most often eggs are smuggled inside the Green Line and sold without veterinary supervision. An ice cream truck filled with 140,000 illegal eggs was recently uncovered at the checkpoint.

Preventing terrorism, maintaining normality

Battalion soldiers have a non-combat medical profile and just Rifleman 02 level training. They take designated courses where they are taught, among other things, how to identify forged documents and to find concealed spaces in vehicles. The students also hear lectures on values and about the proper ethical treatment of citizens from both sides. However, they feel like combat soldiers in every respect - especially the women soldiers, who comprise 60 percent of those serving in the battalion. For them, this is more operational service than most of the jobs the army has to offer them.

After three years of standing at checkpoints, the Taoz Battalion's soldiers are worn out, but many of them see great importance in their jobs. "As strange as it sounds, I like the checkpoint," said Sergeant Marva Abutbul. "There is a lot of action, nabbing of smugglers, and when you see it you understand the significance of what we are doing here. I always remember that these illegal entrants are mostly people who just want to support their families, but they could also have been suicide bombers."

For Sergeant Mor Stein, the hardest part of the job is doing what is known in military jargon as "an in-depth search" - stripping a person suspected of carrying some kind of weapon on his body, conducted only with the approval of the checkpoint's commander. "It's a terrible feeling," said Stein, "when you strip someone who could be your father, or when you inspect a pregnant woman with a magnetometer and you think perhaps she is carrying something on her."

The battalion was formed in 2004 following a decision by the IDF top brass to make the checkpoint inspections professional, and in the wake of the burnout and incompatibility of the combat units with the job. Taoz is the Military Police's second checkpoint battalion, in addition to the Erez battalion which was set up back in 1995 and as is usually posted at the checkpoints around Jerusalem. Its soldiers, who guarded the posts from northern Samaria to the southern Hebron Hills, were recently transferred to the checkpoints around Hebron as part of the policy of reducing the number of checkpoints.

Combat soldiers continue to do checkpoint duty, as there are still too many checkpoints to be manned by military police alone, but military policemen usually handle the contact with citizens. Lieutenant Colonel Doron Neuhaus, the Taoz Battalion commander, acknowledges, "Basically, there is a certain conflict within our job, which is intended on the one hand to prevent terrorist activity and on the other hand to enable the local population to live a life that is as normal as possible."

Even though the battalion soldiers are not combat soldiers, the commanders try to arrange a yearly training for the battalion's companies, in which they review shooting at a moving target from different positions. Over the years, three soldiers from the battalion were killed: Keren Ya'akobi and Maor Kalfon, who were killed in an attack in 2002 during their service in the Sahlav company in Hebron (which was set up to maintain the arrangement in Hebron before the formation of the Taoz Battalion); and Nir Kahane, who was murdered by a terrorist in late 2005 at a checkpoint near Qalandiyah.

According to Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Neuhaus, who will soon be ending a 26-year career of service in the military police, the joint efforts of the checkpoint battalions and the combat units led to more pride on the part of the soldiers who are usually not liked, to put it mildly, compared to the IDF's combat soldiers. "After they work with us and see our professionalism at the checkpoints, and also understand that we are with them on the same front, there is a different attitude. Soldiers in the paratroopers unit tell my soldiers, 'You're just as combat as we are.'"

Following the success in operating the checkpoint battalions, commanders of the district brigades asked Neuhaus if he could also loan his soldiers to them for arrest operations, so that they could question and inspect detained Palestinian citizens.

Machsom Watch, an organization whose volunteers visit checkpoints in the territories in order to document incidents of injury to Palestinian citizens, is not eager to offer its compliments. "Even in Beit Iba and especially in Hawara, their behavior was vulgar," says Raya Yaron, the group's spokesman, of the battalion's members. "The women were actually worse than the men in this respect," she added. Neuhaus is not deterred by the criticism. "As far as I'm concerned, they [Machsom Watch] are another pair of eyes that helps to know what is happening. Since I have been on the job, the interaction with them has increased, we deal with their complaints on the spot, and they know my phone number and can contact me about any matter. The bottom line is that there is a significant drop in the number of complaints submitted to the IDF over the behavior of soldiers at the checkpoints," he said.

"Basically they don't like anyone on the job at a checkpoint," said another officer from the battalion, "but in practice, we work well with them."

Soldiers serving in the checkpoint battalions nevertheless have a certain advantage. The lengthening process of transferring the checkpoints between the West Bank and areas inside the Green Line to civilian hands as well as the increased traffic of citizens in both directions, create a demand for security inspectors with relevant experience. Several times a year, the battalion organizes an employment fair for soldiers who will soon be discharged, attended by civilian companies that already man some of the checkpoints. Although the political process with the Palestinian is still frozen, the passage of people and goods between Israel and the future Palestinian state shows signs of a place with economic prosperity.