This week Martha and Beth woke up very early in order to do checkpoint watch at a checkpoint, connecting Bethlehem with Jerusalem. This is where the Israeli soldiers check all Palestinians going north to Jerusalem. It is one of five checkpoints going into Jerusalem. There are five more checkpoints planned once the illegal Apartheid Wall is finished. Israelis say check-points are for the safety of the Israelis, but the checkpoints protect the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israelis. The reality is that they are part of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, part of the oppressive control of the Palestinians.

We arrived each morning at 4:45, to a line more than a block long of mostly men. The first control area to the gate which goes through the illegal Apartheid Wall is a long cement side walk divided into two and enclosed with steel bars. One side is for entrance, the other for exit. People arrive very early to pass through the checkpoint to go to work in Jerusalem. Those at the front of the line come extremely early, because they need to be to work by 6 a.m. and the checkpoint is only scheduled to open at 5:00 a.m. These people bring cardboard for sleeping on the cement walk in order to be first in line. Even though the checkpoint is supposed to open at 5:00, it usually opens 20 to 30 minutes late. When women come the men let them pass though the long lines to get to the first gate, however this is a very difficult and embarrassing process. The men are packed in between the steel barred walls, so women that pass through the men must walk very close to them.
 

When a young Israeli soldier finally enters the first booth and opens the checkpoint, the Palestinians have to pass through a steel turnstile and show the soldier in the booth their I.Ds. On our first day, we were told by Ecumenical Accompaniment, a group from the World Council of Churches that does regular monitoring at the check point, that an Israeli soldier whom the Israeli Macsum [Check point] Watch women call “Rambo” and the Palestinians called “the German” had arrived. This Israeli soldier has a brutal manner with people. He spotted Martha in a place near the post where he did not want her to be. She moved further into the checkpoint area when he ordered her to leave, thinking it would be best not to have him vent his anger on Palestinians. He took it out instead on one Ecumenical Accompaniment woman who called the checkpoint authority, who then had him removed. Apparently he is a problem for everyone.

Once the Palestinians passed through the first of three control booths near the wall, they walk across an empty parking lot, down an incline, through an outside hallway, and finally, enter the large checkpoint structure. On our third day monitoring, because there were no people lined up at the final control booths, Beth went back toward the first control to check out the situation. There were people lined-up all the way down the outside hallway and up the incline. It took her 20 minutes just to move down the outside ramp and inside, toward the second control, a distance of about a block. The speed of the lines seems to be due to orders from the checkpoint command. There is often no rhyme or reason to the stoppage or slow down, but it is harassment in order to intimidate and control.

The second set of control booths are inside and there are two of them. Backups are common at this stage in the checkpoint, because the Israeli soldiers in the booths here go at a very slow rate. There is a green and red light above a turnstile to tell Palestinians when they can pass into the booth area. Much too often the red light is on. Quite often one of the booths would not be functioning but even when they were both moving, it was often only intermittently.

Palestinians must pass through the turnstile, then through a metal detector and then put all their belongings including their belts and shoes through an x-ray machine. The Israeli soldiers in these booths are often yelling over a loud speaker and telling them to put their belongings in plastic trays. One stall was operated by a woman soldier, who had a loud piercing voice which could be heard all over the huge concrete and steel girded edifice.
 

After gathering their belongings from the x-ray machine, the Palestinians exit into a labyrinth-like area; a mouse in a labyrinth is the image conjured up. Then they exit into the final checking area. The final checkpoint area contains six booths, with a window on each side; however the Israeli soldiers only open four to six windows. Palestinians must pass their I.D. card through the slot in the window, hold their permit to enter Jerusalem up to the window, then step back and put their hand in a scanner. It is a subjugating process. We observed on several occasions that some people would make it all the way to the last checkpoint booth, and then were not permitted through. One man was turned away, but he went in another line and was permitted through. This shows that either some soldiers do not thoroughly check, or more likely they randomly choose people they want to reject. We tried to help another man who was rejected and waiting at the back. We found by making a call to the humanitarian hotline and talking to him that he had two permits, one for work and one to visit the prison. But when an Ecumenical Accompanier completed the call to the hotline, it was found out that his work permit from June to September was no longer in the computer, but with no reason given. So in addition to having a relative in prison for possibly no good reason, he was now without work. Another day, an elderly Palestinian was not allowed to pass, but had a valid permit. We know this because the humanitarian number was called, and his permit was in the computer. A border policeman seemed to have made an arbitrary decision and was telling all of the soldiers in the booths not to let the old man through.

It can take between one to two hours to make it through the entire checkpoint in the morning, and this is not counting how long one waits in the line outside the wall. The entire checkpoint contains a lot of steel, barbed wire, and cement. It is an extremely intimidating and sterile atmosphere, which dehumanizes the people who have to pass through it. There is a catwalk-like structure above the entire indoor checkpoint area for monitoring. One or two Israeli border police fully armed with automatic weapons walk periodically along this ramp, watching the lines of Palestinians. It is a scene of control and intended to intimidate. These armed border police also often come down and walk among the lines at the final control booths, sometimes ordering people to line up a certain way.

It is also especially dehumanizing for older Palestinians who are disrespected and controlled by these very young soldiers. One day towards the end of the rush time, a booth in the final line of the checkpoint was closed down and then in a few minutes reopened. Of course the men rushed over to get in line to pass through and be on their way to work. One of the young soldiers made a noise, which was making fun of their hurrying. It seemed so unkind and cruel.
 

Often we thought the entire process was as if the Israeli army was trying to herd cattle. They seem to forget they are dealing with human beings. But this is all a part of a brutalizing occupation. It is very aggravating for the Palestinians to go through this every morning. They wait in lines that move depending on the mood of the soldiers. But they all have to get to work, to bring home money that will feed their families. So they end up arguing over whose turn it is and who’s cutting in line. The system pits them against each other.

The whole checkpoint system, we feel is really a waste of human time and creative energy for both Palestinians and Israelis. What wonderful and inventive things all of these young Israeli soldiers could be doing for the betterment of humankind and the earth. On these hot summer days, just sitting peacefully in the shade would be a delight and beneficial to the planet. Soldiers could be paid to enjoy the wonders of nature instead of dehumanizing others.

It is especially a waste for Palestinians, who do not have a choice in the matter. They are mostly dressed for a hard day of manual labor. We thought: “How tiring this must be, and how deadening to the human spirit to be herded like cattle and treated like cattle every day”. On their faces, and especially the faces of the older men and women, you can see how sad, tired, run down and sick of it all they are. One man said to Beth as he saw her observing, “It’s not fair, is it?” She shook her head no, in agreement, trying to convey to him that she was sorry for what he had to go through. He said, “Good morning” sarcastically seeming to convey the message that, “this is how we, Palestinians are greeted in the morning”.

[Photo: Very ironic sign, which can be seen when leaving the checkpoint, coming back into
Bethlehem.]