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Boston
support group for the International Solidarity Movement
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1) June 25, 2003
Ben's and John's delegate report
Challenging the Closures
in Nablus (part 2 of 2)
in Balata Refugee Camp, near Nablus, in Palestine
Checkpoint watch is designed to monitor and document abuses by the Israeli military. We also intervene into situations and try to assist Palestinians attempting to pass or being detained.
Our group was sent to Huwara, the main checkpoint south of Nablus, and consisted of Nadya, John and Ben and the local Palestinian coordinator.
Dozens
of vehicles were stopped at the checkpoint. The Palestinians
on foot were fenced together with some shade under camouflage
netting. An Israeli flag hung over the front of the line where
the soldiers stood, as if this were the Israeli border, and not
the heart of the Palestinian West Bank (see photo1).
In the heat I quickly felt dizzy and thirsty. I'd brought a little water and some vendors were selling sugary ice drinks for a shekel (I consumed two).
Standing motionless near the back of the line somehow made the heat feel worse. I stood in the slanting shade of a light pole and tried to imagine how the Palestinians who had to pass this checkpoint must be feeling, both in their bodies and in their spirits.
We soon met one troubled, motherly looking woman who had somehow left her bag at the other side of the checkpoint. Nadya left the line across barbed wire and concrete blocks to negotiate. Eventually the woman joined her on the road, with her head down, clasping her green Palestinian ID card to her chest. The soldiers milled back and forth, nonchalantly. Nadya would ask them something and they would respond and then get distracted. Meanwhile, one small soldier yelled threats to the crowd with a megaphone "If anyone gives me trouble, you will get two days of prison!"
After a bit, John noticed 2 Israeli vehicles not being allowed to pass. One was a nice SUV. A western looking woman with long curly hair and white "hot pants" stood waiting, separate from the other Palestinians. She was an "Israeli Arab," that is, a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship.
John asked a soldier if Israelis as well as Palestinians are not allowed to cross. The soldier looked perplexed. John gestured toward the woman and the soldier said "Oh. They are not really Israeli citizens."
John persisted. "But they have Israeli passports."
The soldier patiently explained this contradiction: "They are only Israelis because they have some documents that say so, but they are not really Israeli citizens." So much for liberal Israeli democracy.
The Israeli Palestinians were
allowed to pass after about 30 minutes, others were still not
moving.
A moment later three shots rang out from the other side of the checkpoint (see photo 2 of girl covering her ears). Apparently it was nothing more than the usual intimidation methods of the soldiers, and no one seemed alarmed.
Soon some of the bolder Palestinians
waiting in line left the line and tried, always with caution
and one by one, to approach the soldiers and pass. The
soldiers almost always talked with them, turned them back and
gave them a little shove. When the trickle became a new line
of a dozen or two, one soldier, who had been yelling threats
all day on a megaphone, ran into the line yelling and shoving
people back. When they couldn't move fast enough he grabbed a
man and separated him from the rest. Soon he had detained four
men, including one who had been trying to get the others in back
in line.
Nadya tried to intervene but to no avail, but perhaps our presence
kept worse things from happening (see photo 3, soldier on left
with megaphone, detained men with eyes covered squatting, Nadya
on right).
Nadya then advocated for an elderly
woman with an eye patch who needed to get to a doctor's appointment,
and was soon successful (see photo 4 of Nadya escorting the woman
through). I had seen the woman sitting for hours against a lamp
post, appearing disgusted with the situation, as if she'd rather
just lose her eye than go through all this. 
This seemed like a small victory amidst all the despondency at the checkpoint, but things were improving. Without us even noticing, the soldiers freed the four detained men. And get this, they were allowed passage ahead of the other people in line! It doesn't take long to realize that the soldiers actions are generally senseless.
Before we left, Nadya was also
able to help an elderly woman who had been made to wait in line
board an ambulance and cross, again for a doctor's visit. And
finally, after waiting in the road through our entire four hour
watch, the woman in black was returned her bag (see photo 5).
I think we all felt that our presence was but a small comfort to the Palestinians. It is difficult to not be discouraged and feel that most of our efforts are just that.
To quote one long-term international commenting on her work in Palestinian villages: "sometimes I feel like we are the hospice for a dying society."