Instead of removing checkpoints, Israeli forces increase maltreatment

Najib Farrag / exclusive / PNN – Palestinians living east of Bethlehem in Za’tara describe the actions of Israeli soldiers at the local checkpoint as “humiliating” and “provocative.”

All Palestinians within the West Bank have to pass through military checkpoints, but some are known to be worse than others. And it is widely spoken of that often the treatment doled out “depends on the mood of the soldiers.”

Soldiers use the checkpoints as “sport,” according to many, but suppress freedom of movement and engage in acts of humiliation.

While a PNN editor was being held at Container Checkpoint, soldiers were jumping to the ground and pointing their machine guns at people and cars as if they were going to shoot. It was a game, they were laughing, but those who thought they were about to be shot could not see the fun.

Abu Ramy, Director of the Office of Jerusalem Media and three of his colleagues were pulled from their car in Al Eizariya, north of Jerusalem. At gunpoint they were “asked” to take off their clothes. Abu Ramy was beaten with rifle butts and kicks on his arms, legs and torso. He suffered bruises and contusions on his face and eyes, while his three colleagues were bruised and bleeding. All were treated in medical centers. Besides the degradation and humiliation of such treatment, it can be life threatening.

In another incident on Friday a bus carrying children between the ages of six and 10 years old was detained. They were from Beit Jala and were held for two hours without any action. “Security reasons,” the soldiers told teachers who were protesting this detention of small children. But this was “the mood of the soldiers” that day in that place. There is no “access to freedom of movement” which international law protects as a Palestinian right.

Regarding the Za’tara checkpoint, the town mayor told PNN that the “barrier constitutes a source of humiliation and infringement of the dignity of the citizens who are subjected to humiliating inspection procedures. Long lines of cars are forced to wait as the soldiers take their time, stand around. They force students, children, women and men to disembark” and wait for nothing other than the nod of a soldier. This comes in minutes or hours. Sometimes it does not come at all. “Several days ago a woman was in car enroute to the hospital in Bethlehem to give birth. But the soldiers forced her to turn around. It was nighttime and her only hope became a road used by settlers and soldiers from Takua and Har Homa. This was incredibly dangerous for her.”

The Israeli military sniper tower is 300 meters from the Municipality of Za’tara. All of the eastern Bethlehem villages need to pass through this area in order to move. Rolls of barbed wire often cut the road from Beit Umar and no one can pass. They must go around, which is a three kilometer detour, instead of the half kilometer that is straight in front of them.

The Za’tara mayor also told PNN on Monday that any talk by the Israelis of “removing checkpoints” or “roadblocks” in the West Bank is for the sake of the media only. “There are more than ever now, and in strange places. And you can be assured that the measures will be particularly oppressive.”