Arbitrary Arrest of Two Boys in Tel Rumeida

by ISM Hebron, February 4th

On February 2nd human rights workers (HRWs) received a call from neighbours at 9pm to say that two boys had been arrested and were being mistreated by soldiers in Tel Rumeida. The HRWs went immediately to the checkpoint at the top of Tel Rumeida St. where they saw two young teenage boys standing facing the wall on opposite sides of the road, blindfolded and with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

After about 5 minutes the soldiers ordered one boy to the other side of the street so they stood shoulder to shoulder. At around 9.30pm a military jeep arrived and drove the boys towards the Jewish cemetery and Tel Rumeida settlement.

The soldiers at the check point told us that the boys had been arrested for ‘throwing stones in the street’, but they didn’t tell us where the stone throwing happened and there are no witnesses to confirm it. The boys were released two hours later without charge.

This is just the latest example of the IOF trying to instill fear into the local Palestinian population and imposing an effective curfew in the evening. The message is clear: if we see you on the street in the eveining you can expect to be arrested.

Photo exhibition at Huwwara checkpoint

1. Photo exhibition at Huwwara checkpoint
2. Candlelight Vigils Outside the Israel Philharmonic Concerts in Los Angeles
3. Don’t Flirt with the Occupation – February 10th Mass Demonstration Against Carmel-Agrexco in London
4. Civil Rights Lesson and Art Class at Hebron Checkpoint
5. Villager beaten and arrested at Bil’in
6. Shepherd Abducted for Nothing in Tel Rumeida
7. March against the Wall in Bethlehem Village
8. Downtown Tel Aviv blockaded again

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1. Photo exhibition at Huwwara checkpoint

Today at Huwwara checkpoint Khaled Jarrar exhibited photos depicting scenes of Occupation life at checkpoints and the Wall. At 12 noon 40 photos were hung on the chain-link fence pedestrians have to pass as they enter Nablus.

Around 100 Israelis and internationals attended the exhibition, the second event in the 30 Days Against Checkpoints campaign, organised by Nablus group HASM (Palestinian Body for Peace, Dialogue and Equality). The forecasted rain held off until 2 pm.

Occupation forces showed interest in the exhibition. One soldier exclaimed that his face didn’t appear in the exhibition whilst another claimed that Nablus belonged to Israel. A photographer was also threatened by a soldier

Mohammed Dweikat, HASM Coordinator states: “We are doing this as Nablus is the most imprisoned city in the West Bank. Since 2002 it has only been possible to enter through six checkpoints on foot. It is even more difficult to exit. Men between 16 and 45 (it varies from day to day) can only exit their city with a special permit that can be obtained only outside Nablus. Almost nightly its citizens are the victims of violent military raids and their lives have not been peaceful, or normal for years.”

In the first action at Huwwara checkpoint on January 14th Palestinian youth dressed up as Native Americans and displayed banners linking the fate of the indigenous peoples of America and Palestine.

Contact info:
Mohammed Dweikat (HASM) – 0599355286

For photos visit: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/03/huwwara-photos/

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2. Candlelight Vigils Outside the Israel Philharmonic Concerts in Los Angeles

Local Peace and Human Rights Group to Hold Silent Candlelight Vigils Outside the Israel Philharmonic Concerts at Disney Hall Monday, Feb. 5th, and Tuesday, Feb. 6th in Downtown LA

Women in Black-LA Join Launch of International Campaign Calling for Sanctions and Cultural Boycott to End Israeli Apartheid in Palestine Inspired by Worldwide Movement That Helped End Apartheid in South Africa

WHAT: Silent Candlelight Vigil to Support a Boycott of the Israel Philharmonic and an End to Israeli Apartheid in Palestine

WHEN: Monday, February 5th – 6:30 to 8:00 PM
Tuesday, February 6th – 6:30 to 8:00 PM

WHERE: Outside the Disney Hall
1st Street & Grand, Downtown LA

WHY: International and Palestinian human rights leaders have asked supporters worldwide to begin cultural and economic boycotts, along with divestment and sanction campaigns to end Israel’s Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem and to end Israeli Apartheid in Palestine.

This effort is modeled after the successful worldwide boycott and divestment campaign that helped end Apartheid in South Africa.

When they learned that the Israel Philharmonic would be stopping at Disney Hall while on their U.S. tour, Women in Black-LA joined the international campaign by launching their call for a Boycott of the orchestra, after first writing a letter to the Israel Philharmonic asking them to publicly oppose the occuptation.

Nearly 1,000 groups and prominent individuals, from former government officials to artists and activists, all over the world, signed the letter.

One of the signers, Silvia Tennebaum, step-daughter of Israel Philharmonic co-founder, William Steinberg, wrote: “My hope is that the orchestra will remember the suffering endured by the Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe and, in their memory, not implicitly support an occupation that seeks to strangle and displace a whole people.”

For photo visit: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/01/31/israel-philarmonic-la/

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3. Don’t Flirt with the Occupation – February 10th Mass Demonstration Against Carmel-Agrexco in London

by Boycott Israeli Goods
http://www.bigcampaign.org/

Agrexco is Israel’s largest exporter of fresh agricultural produce. The company is 50% owned by the Israeli state. Agrexco accounts for 70% ofIsraeli fresh produce sold abroad with annual sales of $750 million in 2006. Agrexco boast of being able to get produce to European markets within 24 hours.

The Valentines Day period is one of Agrexco UK’s busiest times as the company deals with large amounts of fresh flowers from Israel and the settlements.

The Boycott Israeli Goods campaign is planning a mass picket of the depot on Saturday February 10th in opposition to the sale of Israeli goods and in support of Palestinian farmers who are not able to market their goods internationally

In the UK Agrexco is known under the Carmel, Coral and Jaffa brands. The UK is the most important foreign market for Israeli fresh produce. Agrexco exports a wide range of produce to the UK including peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, spices, flowers and avocados.

Agrexco is the largest exporter of settlement produce for sale overseas. Much of this produce comes from colonies in the Jordan Valley. Carmel Agrexco hgave had dealings with the colonies of Tomer, Mehola, Hamra, Ro’i, Massua, Patzael, Mekhora, Netiv Ha-Gdud and Bet Ha-Arava.

Palestinian workers in the settlements suffer much worse working conditions and receive half the pay of Israelis.

Carmel-Agrexco’s UK depot has been blockaded 3 times by Palestinian solidarity activists.

Palestinians are calling for the solidarity movement to take action against Carmel Agrexco. 180 Palestinian organisations and unions, in response to the Israeli onslaught, have called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Apartheid Israel.

Meet at 11am, (Bridge Place, Behind Victoria Station, Opposite UK Passport Office, outside the Hisperia Hotel) Central London, for transport to Agrexco’s depot in Middlesex

Meet at Carmel, Swallowfield Way, Hayes at 1pm (see map) if you are making your own way there. Email boycott@palestinecampaign.org to let us know you are coming

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Click here for YNet report on Israeli flower exports: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3359169,00.html

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4. Civil Rights Lesson and Art Class at Hebron Checkpoint

Today at 2pm ISM Hebron held a teach-in at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint in Hebron. The kids learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and his successful non-violent struggle for the freedom and civil rights of black people in the United States. We compared the situation of black Americans during segregation to the lack of freedom for Palestinians, particularly in the area of Tel Rumeida where they cannot drive, or walk around freely and are subjected to ID checks and house invasions.

After the history lesson, the children were given the opportunity to create t-shirts with Dr. King’s famous quote, “Freedom is not voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed” in Arabic, Hebrew and English.

Soldiers who were observing and waving their guns around on nearby roofs were invited to join the lesson and make their own t-shirts, however none of them joined. One t-shirt was saved for a soldier but attempts to give it away to various soldiers were unsuccessful.

After the demonstration, the weekly art classes continued at the Tel Rumeida community center where the lesson and t-shirt creation was repeated. At one point soldiers drove up and ordered the kids to go back into their homes. Apparently Marin Luther King is too subversive for the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Today was the third Thursday action in Tel Rumeida. Last week a rally was held at the checkpoint and the previous week local residents attempted to walk down Shuhada Street.

For photos visit: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/01/tr-teach-in/

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5. Villager beaten and arrested at Bil’in

UPDATE 10.30: Farhat Burnat will be held at Ofer Military Detention Centre for another 4 days on suspicion of ‘assaulting a soldier’. Many Bil’in residents have been abducted and held at Ofer on trumped up charges only to have their cases collapse due to lack of evidence.

The theme of today’s weekly demo against the Apartheid Wall in Bil’in was the need to end the internal conflict harming the Palestinian cause. Villagers constructed a scaffold with nooses and wore sheets with slogans such as ‘Palestinian State’, ‘Palestinian Freedom’, ‘Palestinian independence’, and ‘Palestinian dream’. The scaffold bore the sign ‘internal conflict’. Around 100 villagers were joined by 30 Israeli and international supporters.

After reaching the gate in the Wall and chanting anti-Occupation slogans, some villagers separated from the main group to try and dismantle the razor wire forming the first barrier in the Wall. Soldiers responded with the new type of sound bomb that explodes in the air and tear gas.

Meanwhile up by the gate soldiers beat and abducted Farhat Burnat, 26, who managed to get over the gate. He remains in captivity. They assaulted and tried to abduct other villagers but supporters managed to de-arrest them.

The IOF also made liberal use of the aerial exploding sound bombs and tear gas against the peaceful protesters to make them disperse. Some dispersed suffering from the effects of the tear gas but others remained near the gate and resisted the military violence.

One soldier approached a Palestinian and asked him to hold out his hand before throwing a sound bomb at him, which hit his chest before detonating. Altogether five people suffered light injuries from rubber bullets and beatings.

A representative from the German Consulate visited the village and was told about the difficulties resulting from the theft of over half the village’s land.

For photos visit: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/02/bilin-2-2-7/

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6. Shepherd Abducted for Nothing in Tel Rumeida

Yesterday shepherd Bilal Il Qadi was abducted from his home in Tel Rumeida at around 2pm by the IOF after a sheep had been seen in an olive grove on CCTV. The sheep was seen in an olive grove belonging to the Abu Haykel family, which is frequently used to graze animals and as a thoroughfare for local residents. Bilal didn’t appear on the CCTV as he wasn’t in the olive grove at the time anyway. Soldiers took him to the IOF post at the top of Tel Rumeida street.

International human rights workers (HRWs) and a lawyer arrived at the post at 2.50pm and asked why Bilal was being detained. They were told there was a sign in the olive grove saying it was forbidden for Palestinians to be there – when investigated this was found to be untrue. When the police arrived they handcuffed and blindfolded Bilal before taking him to the police station. He was released after having spent two hours in captivity.

Bilal was told that he wasn’t allowed to be in the olive grove and that if he went there again he would be shot. At the same time as Bilal’s abduction, local children were being given a lesson on Martin Luther King and the US Civil Rights Movement.

For photo visit: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/02/tr-shepherd-arrest/

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7. March against the Wall in Bethlehem Village

Today around 100 residents of Umm Salamuna, Wadi Annis and neighbouring villages were joined by international and Israeli supporters in a prayer and march on their bulldozed land. Following the midday prayer villagers marched up the hill to a site overlooking land where work on the Apartheid Wall was being carried out.

700 dunums will be annexed by the Wall in Umm Salamuna and 270 dunums will be taken for its footprint. In addition, the Wall will prevent easy access from the village to the main Jerusalem to Hebron road, turning a 7km trip to Bethlehem into a 20km one.

According to Khalid Al Azza, head of the Popular Committee for Land Defense in Bethlehem, villagers from the 10 south Bethlehem villages affected by the Wall have vowed to continue the weekly protests until construction of the Wall stops. They are currently appealing against the Wall in Occupation courts.

Today was the third Friday protest against the Wall on the razed land of Umm Salamuna and Wadi Annis.

For photo visit: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/03/umm-salamuna-02-02/

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8. Downtown Tel Aviv blockaded again

In a replica of an action on December 28th, Israeli activists brought part of downtown Tel Aviv to a standstill this afternoon. This time they struck on Rothshild Street, where they speedily blockaded the road with razor wire from the Apartheid Wall. As last time, they hung a sign from the Wall that reads in Arabic, Hebrew and English: “Mortal Danger-Military Zone. Any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his life”. The activists managed to escape before the police arrived.

click here for video footage of today’s action: http://awalls.org/Rothschild_video

click here for Haaretz coverage: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/821331.html
click here for YNet coverage: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3360417,00.html
click here for photos: https://www.palsolidarity.org/main/2007/02/03/ta-blockade-03-02/

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For more reports, journals and action alerts visit the ISM website at www.palsolidarity.org

Please consider supporting the International Solidarity Movement’s work with a financial contribution. You may donate securely through our website at: www.palsolidarity.org/main/donations/

Photo exhibition at Huwwara checkpoint

by the ISM media team, February 3rd


by Rula Halawani

Today at Huwwara checkpoint Khaled Jarrar exhibited photos depicting scenes of Occupation life at checkpoints and the Wall. At 12 noon 40 photos were hung on the chain-link fence pedestrians have to pass as they enter Nablus.

Around 100 Israelis and internationals attended the exhibition, the second event in the 30 Days Against Checkpoints campaign, organised by Nablus group HASM (Palestinian Body for Peace, Dialogue and Equality). The forecasted rain held off until 2 pm.

Occupation forces showed interest in the exhibition. One soldier exclaimed that his face didn’t appear in the exhibition whilst another claimed that Nablus belonged to Israel. A photographer was also threatened by a soldier

Mohammed Dweikat, HASM Coordinator states: “We are doing this as Nablus is the most imprisoned city in the West Bank. Since 2002 it has only been possible to enter through six checkpoints on foot. It is even more difficult to exit. Men between 16 and 45 (it varies from day to day) can only exit their city with a special permit that can be obtained only outside Nablus. Almost nightly its citizens are the victims of violent military raids and their lives have not been peaceful, or normal for years.”

In the first action at Huwwara checkpoint on January 14th Palestinian youth dressed up as Native Americans and displayed banners linking the fate of the indigenous peoples of America and Palestine.

Contact info:
Mohammed Dweikat (HASM) – 0599355286

click here for YNet coverage


by Rula Halawani


by Rula Halawani


by Rula Halawani


by Reuters

Downtown Tel Aviv blockaded again

by the ISM media team, February 3rd


photos by Active Stills

In a replica of an action on December 28th, Israeli activists brought part of downtown Tel Aviv to a standstill this afternoon. This time they struck on Rothshild Street, where they speedily blockaded the road with razor wire from the Apartheid Wall. As last time, they hung a sign from the Wall that reads in Arabic, Hebrew and English: “Mortal Danger-Military Zone. Any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his life”. The activists managed to escape before the police arrived.

click here for video footage of today’s action

click here for Haaretz coverage
click here for YNet coverage

Haaretz: “By the book”

by Gideon Levy, February 2nd

There’s no question about it – everything was done by the book. The gate was locked at 7 P.M. and 16,000 people, residents of the villages of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan, were imprisoned behind it until 6 A.M. That’s the procedure. A woman who wants to cross the checkpoint at night has to go on foot, to wait until a female soldier comes to do a body check, even if she is about to give birth; that, too, is procedure. And only cars with permits are allowed to enter Nablus, even if dying people are sitting inside them; that is also according to procedure. No soldier deviated from the procedure, everything was done by the book, the book of the occupation.

That is how it happened that a cancer patient was delayed for about an hour and a half at the Hawara checkpoint, until he died in a taxi that was not allowed to enter Nablus, a taxi in which he was trying to get from the hospital to his home, his final request. That is also what happened when the young woman in labor was forced to stand in the cold and the rain for about half an hour and to make her way on foot for several hundred meters while in labor. That’s the procedure.

The death of cancer patient Taysir Kaisi was inevitable, but why in such pain, waiting endlessly in a “non-permitted” taxi at the checkpoint? And the young woman from Beit Furik who was about to give birth, Roba Hanani, finally arrived at the hospital in Nablus and successfully gave birth there to her first child, but why with such torture? Why did they deserve it? What would we think if our loved ones were to die or suffer labor pains at a checkpoint separating the city and the village? Life and death are in the hands of the checkpoint: The story of the death of Taysir Kaisi and the birth of Raghad Hanani, between the Hawara checkpoint and the Beit Furik checkpoint, during an easing of restrictions at the checkpoints, less than an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv, is a story that should disturb our equanimity.

Taysir Kaisi worked in Hazem Samara’s hummus shop in Nablus. He was 45 years old, with seven children, a hummus maker, with two bedrooms and a living room in a house in the Ain Bet Ilma refugee camp in the city. He fell ill a year ago; he was diagnosed with metastasizing liver cancer only a month ago. Dr. Hurani prescribed chemotherapy, which he received at the Al Watani hospital in the city.

His situation deteriorated, his pains increased, Kaisi wanted a second opinion. Someone recommended the Hadassah Hospital, but in the end he only managed to go to the Al Mutla hospital in East Jerusalem. On Monday, January 15, he went to Jerusalem accompanied by his cousin Hussein Kaisi. They had four permits, that is the only way one can travel to receive a second opinion, a permit for two days, one for each day, for two people, one for “the purpose of medical needs” and the other “for the purpose of accompanying a patient,” all properly stamped, all after they showed the doctor’s appointment from the hospital in Jerusalem, and that is also according to the rules. Kaisi was still in reasonable shape when he left his house on Monday, and he did part of the long trip to Jerusalem walking from one taxi to another, between the checkpoints. At the Qalandiyah checkpoint, they asked him to pull down his pants – security – and he managed that too.

At Al Mutla they decided to hospitalize the patient for four days. He and his cousin had permits for only two days. After several examinations the doctors recommended that Kaisi return home and continue to receive chemotherapy in Nablus, near his family and his children. On Thursday morning Taysir and Hussein left the hospital on their way home. That was Taysir’s final journey.

We are now sitting with the cousin Hussein on a rock overlooking the improvised taxi stand at the Hawara checkpoint, exactly where he left Taysir to die in a taxi that was not permitted to cross. The taxi drivers that the two stopped when they left the hospital in East Jerusalem refused to take them, because their permits for medical purposes and for the purpose of accompanying a patient were no longer valid, because of the hospitalization that had lasted two days beyond the permits. That is why the two, the patient and his cousin, traveled by bus to the Qalandiyah checkpoint, after waiting a long time at the bus stop. They crossed the checkpoint on foot, Taysir was still able to walk, and there they took a taxi from Ramallah to bring them to Nablus. Taysir screamed with pain during the entire trip, asking his cousin, “When will we get to Nablus already?”

When they reached the Hawara checkpoint, the checkpoint at the entrance to Nablus, Hussein asked the driver to enter the checkpoint and drive them home. The soldier at the checkpoint asked for permits. Hussein, who speaks Hebrew, explained to him that Taysir was a critically ill man who was returning to his home. The soldier asked for a permit from the taxi driver, but the taxi driver from Ramallah did not have a permit to enter Nablus. “Go back,” ordered the soldier. Hussein tried to explain to the soldier that Taysir was incapable of going on foot, and that all he wanted was to get home, but the soldiers insisted. Those are the procedures. They said that Hussein and Taysir could enter Nablus, but only on foot.

Taysir was no longer in any condition to walk even one step. The pains in his stomach had increased during the course of the uncomfortable trip and he was no longer capable of standing on his feet. “This is a cancer patient,” Hussein tried to explain, to no avail. The soldiers, he says, did not pay attention. For lack of any other choice, they turned back, doing the soldier’s bidding.

The driver parked his taxi at the improvised taxi stand at the front of the checkpoint, Taysir groaned with pain and Hussein asked him to set out with him on foot. Taysir was incapable of doing so. So Hussein went out to look for a taxi with a permit to enter Nablus, leaving his cousin in the taxi. “Take care of my wife and the children,” Taysir asked Hussein, apparently his last words.

The desperate Hussein tried to find a driver who would agree to take them through the checkpoint. In an UNRWA vehicle that just passed there was no room, no other car came. One of the taxi drivers suggested that he call the ambulance in Nablus. Only in an ambulance will you be able to cross, the driver advised him. Hussein called the Red Crescent in Nablus, another 15 minutes passed until the ambulance arrived at the checkpoint. The ambulance driver didn’t find the two, Hussein ran to him and directed him to the taxi where Taysir was dying.

The paramedic got out of the ambulance and approached Taysir, asking him how he was, but Taysir didn’t reply. He was sitting in the back seat of the taxi. The driver of another taxi that was standing at the taxi stand, Jihad Hareb, says that he saw Taysir sitting in the taxi for about an hour and a half, his yellow skin slowly turning black, “as though someone had choked him.” The paramedic checked his pulse and respiration and determined that Taysir was dead. Hussein also says that about an hour and a half passed from the moment they arrived at the checkpoint until the ambulance arrived. With the help of two taxi drivers, they removed Taysir from the taxi and carried him to the ambulance, and drove to the hospital in Nablus, where his death was determined. The doctors estimated that Taysir had died about 45 minutes before arriving at the hospital.

Hussein called Taysir’s wife, Nawal, and informed her: “Taysir died at the checkpoint, on the way home.” He says that it was hard for him to give the news over the phone, Taysir had so much wanted to get home. A B’Tselem investigator, Salma al-Debai, also took testimony from Hussein, in order to prepare a report about the incident on behalf of her organization.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office, for its part, responds with a total denial: “An investigation regarding a claim that a Palestinian cancer patient was delayed at the Hawara checkpoint found the claim to be incorrect. An investigation carried out by the Civil Administration’s coordinator of health showed that the Palestinian died on the way, during a taxi ride from the hospital in Jerusalem to the Hawara checkpoint.”

Some people die at the checkpoint and some are born there: Wrapped in a woolen blanket, an electric heater warming her well-appointed room, lies the infant Raghad Hanani, 25 days old, in her bed. When she grows up, maybe her parents, Roba and Derar – he a Palestinian policeman and she a 25-year-old housewife – will tell her about her mother’s travails when she was about to give birth.

It was Roba’s first pregnancy. On Friday, December 7, she went into labor. An act of the devil – evening had already fallen on their village, Beit Furik, east of Nablus; an act of the devil – the IDF had locked the iron gate. The coordinator of ground operations of Rabbis for Human Rights, Zacharia Sadeh, says that for months this gate has been locked every night, from 7 P.M. to 6 A.M., imprisoning behind it the 16,000 residents of the two neighboring villages, Beit Furik and Beit Dajan.

It was 8:30 P.M., about an hour and a half after the gate had been locked; the couple ordered a taxi and drove toward the iron gate intending to reach the hospital in Nablus, a few minutes’ drive away. There are two roads to Nablus; one is short and is open to Jews only, and one is longer and passes through the Beit Furik checkpoint. Access to both roads passes first of all through the iron gate, and it was locked, as we have said.

The taxi driver, Mahmoud Melitat, approached the iron gate and began to flash his car lights in the direction of the IDF guard tower, which is located a few hundred meters from the gate. Derar says that it was cold and rainy outside. After about 10 minutes, a Hummer arrived. The driver, Melitat, tried to explain to the soldiers that there was a woman in labor in his taxi, but the soldiers insisted that she had to get out and cross the gate on foot.

The couple got out of the taxi, Roba was crying, holding her stomach, scared about her first birth, leaning on her husband’s shoulders. They walked from the gate in the direction of the checkpoint, a distance of several hundred meters, and there the soldiers ordered them to wait until a female soldier came to do a body check on Roba – maybe she was carrying a bomb on her way to Nablus. On the other side of the checkpoint a Palestinian ambulance that had been ordered by Derar was waiting, and the soldiers did not let its driver pass to the other side of the checkpoint, which is closed at night. Derar says that the soldiers did not even allow Roba to get into the ambulance and to wait inside. They said that these were the orders.

So they stood outside until the female soldier arrived, Roba was examined and the permit to go to the hospital was finally given. The IDF Spokesman responded that he was not familiar with this case.

In the end, Raghad was born in the hospital in Nablus. Mother and baby are doing well. Grandma and grandpa, Roba’s parents, have seen their granddaughter only once so far, in the hospital. The residents of their village of Salem, which can be seen on the opposite hill, are not allowed to enter Beit Furik.

And nevertheless the Hananis were lucky: Late in 2003 Rula Ashateya, who was also in labor, tried to cross that same accursed checkpoint. The soldiers prevented her from crossing at the time, and Rula crouched to give birth on the ground, hiding behind one of the cement blocks of the checkpoint, with her husband serving as midwife. The newborn apparently hit the rock and died. Her parents had intended to call her Mira, I wrote here at the time, since all their children’s names begin with M. Then, too, the IDF Spokesman said that “the soldiers are instructed to allow crossing at the checkpoint in humanitarian cases, at any time and in any situation.”