Bethlehem, Fri 30.7.10, Morning

Summary : "Grand-children can't pass !".  Within a short time, twenty small children and two elderly women are sent back.  Once again we hear "Get back, get back ! " accompanied by the scornful gesture which waves back the annoying old Palestinian woman who insists on passing through the checkpoint to pray, in spite of not having equipped herself with all the paperwork demanded by the occupation forces, and the grandmother who dreamt of the trip to El-Kuds (the Arabs' word for Jerusalem) with her grand-children, and what a pity, her dream is shattered.

09,00 - 10.20 am, Bethlehem - Checkpoint 300: this group of soldiers is insufferable, arrogant and insolent, shameless and obnoxious, especially one of them who from the moment I arrive shows his disgust for me and several times demands me "to stand close-up to the wall".  He is busy chatting to the female soldier who is with him in the inspection station. Sometimes he allows someone to pass but doesn't open the turnstile and doesn't pay attention to the male or female Palestinian trying to pass because he is immersed in his conversation. 

In the second inspection station there is a lone soldier, who is less blatant, although when complaining to the security guard about the grandmothers and their grand-children, he tells him " Do me a favour and take these idiots away.  They insist on standing here !".

For some reason, there are many Palestinians who arrive today with children who are not really theirs but their relations', and many of them come with a Palestinian certificate of registration which is a photocopy and not the original.  The children shed many tears and also the two grandmothers burst-out crying but nothing helps. Although I already know the answer, I turn to the female soldier and ask if the policy today is to deny childrens' passage.  She explains that since they only have a Palestinian certificate they are not allowed to pass.  My request that she uses her judgement in regard to the little children is not accepted.

I see only one case where the soldier allows a man to pass with his nephew even though he at first pretends that he is his son.

One old man wants to pass in order to pray even though he is not equipped with the proper permit.  "But I am ninety years old !" he tries his luck.  "That's allowed only during the month of Ramadan.  Now you need a permit" is the reply.  Even though one of the soldiers himself tells the female soldier who gives the convincing explanation "He looks to me as if he is six thousand years old !". Ramadan starts in another two months, and we shall see then what consideration (for the Palestinians' plight) exists.