Many thanks to Islander Hannah Brock, who is currently in Bethlehem acting as an international observer to Israeli and Palestinian activists working for peace, for her second report from the area. In her own words. Ed
Those who know me well will tell you that I’m not known for being very good in the mornings!
All that’s had to change of late, as my EAPPI team are responsible for monitoring Checkpoint 300 here in Bethlehem five mornings a week, mostly between 4am and 8am.
Two-fold role at checkpoint
Our role at the checkpoint is two-fold. Firstly, we provide ‘protective presence’. This sounds like a grand statement – what it means it that our being there, as internationals, things are less likely to go badly. As the Major of Bethlehem said to us, “When you are there it goes fairly well, when you are not there, it is terrible.”
This troubled me, since I do not think that what I have seen at the checkpoints thus far constitutes ‘going well’, but then I guess it’s a relative statement.
Told to stop praying at gunpoint
For example, on our first ever checkpoint duty, my teammate called me sounding distressed, “Soldiers are here, they have guns and they are pointing them at the men praying.”
People are not allowed to pray (in the Islamic tradition, kneeling and facing Mecca) in the checkpoint itself, and the call to prayer comes at sunrise, when most people are still trying to get through the checkpoint. So, as soon as they have passed through and are out of the exit, they pray outside together.
On this occasion, the Israeli soldiers were not having it. The men (who were not presenting an obstacle) were told to move on and stop praying, at gunpoint. Most people reluctantly cooperated, but one man continued praying, and was dragged from his feet and taken back inside the checkpoint.
Recording numbers passing through
The second job EAs are there to do is record how many people go through and how long it takes them. We are the only organisation doing this systematically, other than the Israeli army.
The information we gather goes to, amongst others, the UN and the Red Cross. Go to this page and you will see a photo my colleague Mary took of me, at a quiet moment, whilst we were counting.
When we arrive at the checkpoint at 4.00am, there are already over 200 people waiting – mostly men on their way to work. They have often been there since 2.00am.
The first stage within the checkpoint is to queue in a lane ‘caged in’ by metal fences, about 1m wide. People are two, often three deep in this 1m space. The turnstile at the end of this lane is open at busy times for a few minutes, allowing perhaps 100 people through, and then closed again, often for up to half an hour, when hundreds more people are gathering in the 1m wide lane behind it. It is extremely cramped, very dark and sometimes noisy.
The metal detectors or personal search
Once through the turnstiles (having waited up for perhaps two hours in line), you pass through the metal detector (this is just like the metal detectors at airports, and can similarly involve a more personal search if you beep when passing through).
Then comes the ID booth, in which you present a card which has your fingerprints electronically saved on it. This will make your face appear on the Israeli soldiers’ computer screen, behind glass in the booth. Then you show your permit.
This permit is for a specific permit e.g. working. If you wish to travel through the checkpoint for a different reason e.g. to visit a Mosque/Church in Jerusalem, or to travel with your child to hospital, then you will another kind of permit that has to be applied for separately.
Choose your lane
At Bethlehem checkpoint there are two lanes of entry: the Main Lane and the Humanitarian Lane. The Humanitarian Lane is for internationals, women, children, and people over 60 years of age.
It is supposed to be open 24 hours a day, but it is rarely open before 6.00am. The lane also only affects the first part of the journey; after crossing the first turnstile everybody goes through the same process of metal detector and ID booth, whether 5 or 95 years old.
I admit that when I first heard about all this I thought “so what? I’d have to show my passport if I went to Australia” – but then I realised that the vast majority of checkpoints are not on the border between Israel and the Palestinian territories, but are within the West Bank itself i.e. they are run by the Israeli army but are entirely on Palestinian land.
Watch the checkpoint video
If you would like to see what happens at Bethlehem checkpoint, then I can recommend this video (it’s just over five minutes long, but you will get a good idea of the reality within the first two minutes)
Meeting the nuns
Last week I met with two determined-looking and extremely kind Polish nuns who run a home for children without parents in Bethlehem (they refuse to call it an orphanage, because of the negative connotations this inspires).
Having travelled through the busy main lane of the checkpoint that morning, Sister Raphaela reflected, “We just want to be treated like humans.”
If you watch the above video, you might understand why she says this.
Not just checkpoints
Checkpoints have been in place since 1991, and many more were built during the Second Intifada (the Palestinian uprising in which many Israeli citizens were killed by suicide bombers).
As well as checkpoints, there are roadblocks, trenches, earth mounds and agricultural gates restricting movement across the West Bank. The Israeli human rights organisations, Bt’selem, says that freedom of movement for the people of the West Bank ‘has turned from a fundamental human right to a privilege that Israel grants or withholds as it deems fit’ (Ground to a Halt (PDF), p. 8).
A collective punishment
The Israeli government argues that these movement restrictions are necessary in order to thwart terrorism, but the measures affect absolutely everybody living within the West Bank – not just those suspected of having a connection with violent groups.
They constitute a collective punishment, which is against International Humanitarian Law, as outlined in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Movement restrictions are also explicitly prohibited by the 1993 Oslo Accords (a peace deal between Israeli and the Palestine Liberation Organisation), which states that the movement of people and vehicles in the West Bank “will be free and normal, and shall not need to be effected through checkpoints or roadblocks.” This agreement, as you’ve heard, is not being adhered to.
Images: Separation barrier by Mary Morris, Hannah Brock and Porter Speakman, Jr
