Bethlehem checkpoint: to see the familiar horror through fresh new eyes

05:15 – 07:30

5.15 We walked up from Tantur where were all the usual scenes. The morning being pleasant somehow makes the scene seem ordinary though it is not so to anyone seeing for the first time men making the pavements their temporary “homes”.

There are three ways of going on a shift to Bethlehem. The first is when there is immediately an altercation with the soldiers or guards as to whether one has the right to be there. But up to now I have managed to stand my ground.  The second it to be completely ignored by the guards which suits me fine. And then there are those who are pleasant and, as in the case with this guard, even offered to bring me a chair though it was not the first time that I had had that experience. But always a relief to be greeted pleasantly. I noticed that the people coming in, wanting to go back to Bethlehem, were escorted outside again but he explained to me that because of the renovations the usual way was closed to them and that they had to go around.

It is always good to have some light relief. A young man spoke to me about his brother who has a security problem.  I gave him Sylvia’s phone number and on my phone in Arabic I have the times and days when she can be contacted. I started to read it out to him to copy but he simply took out his phone and photographed from mine.

Emma also asked me afterwards if I had noticed  the smell when we came in to the terminal. I said no that I was still trying to recover from all the cigarette smoke. She said she had smelt the place as wet, dirty and a strong smell of  sweat. It had as usual been a bad day on the other side as we could hear the shouts reaching a crescendo and she attributed the smell to the thousands out there trying to get through and  as one man said as he passed us, “They are killing one another out there to get through.” She also commented on the facial expressions of the people as they rushed out trying with one hand to get their belts back on and with the other hanging on to their parcels. As she said, when you come through the airport you have a chance to sort yourself out after the inspection but here you have to stay on the move. Either because you cannot stand around inside the terminal doing so and in any case there is no place to put anything down and also because some of them are rushing to get to work in time.

I asked her later how she had  felt as we came up from Tantur towards the terminal seeing people in such a degraded position. She has been with me to Qalandiya and said  it seemed more organized here……but realized then that we were seeing it from the Israeli side after the men had been through the inspection. She said that earlier on when we had walked up she  could sense the frustration and anger of the men on the sidewalk and felt that those sitting and lying  were absolutely exhausted even before the day of work had begun.

It is very hard for someone coming to the checkpoints to collect all their feelings and thoughts when they see the hell that we have forced on these people.

We left at 6.45.