Tag: Checkpoint

Checkpoints for humiliation: a journal piece

4th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Shuhada checkpoint gate. To the left, the closed-off room through which one must deal with Israeli forces behind a bullet-proof screen before being allowed – or denied – passage.

Earlier this month, an international woman was ordered to ‘take off her clothes’ after setting off the alarm whilst passing the metal detector at Shuhada checkpoint, occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). This is a personal journal of the events.

Humiliation, harassment, intimidation – a daily occurance for anyone required by the Israeli occupying forces to pass through Shuhada checkpoint to reach their home. This is how the Israeli occupation makes it’s presence felt and enforces its inhumanity, and it rarely comes as a surprise anymore. Still, when the metal detector alarm sounds and the soldier nonchalantly tells a woman to ‘take off her clothes’, she’s is taken aback: Who gave them the right to even ask something like that? Do they not have the tiniest bit of decency? Do they think that their automatic weapons – ready to shoot at any time – give them the right to make such a request?

Inside the checkpoint – in a room closed to outside observation – heavily armed, stern-faced young soldiers ask a woman to undress. It is painfully apparent that this is not simply a bad joke. The small room begins to feel as though it’s getting smaller and smaller as  more soldiers begin to enter from outside and gather behind the bullet-proof glass. With all their buddies present for this show of power and superiority, one of them claims that it’s just for “security” – to ask a person to remove their clothing in plain view of heavily-armed soldiers. It’s “just about security” when they tell you that, if you’re not willing to take off your clothes, you’re hiding a gun – all the while firmly gripping theirs.

How dare a woman have the audacity not to immediately follow an occupying soldiers’ orders? To even dare to call out their lack of decency? But occupation has never heard of human dignity. To the eyes of the occupation, having a number male soldiers and surveillance cameras watch at arms length whilst a female soldier commands a woman to get undressed in a checkpoint just another part of the routine treatment of the occupied population. Just another case of a heavily-armed Israeli soldier ordering someone to do as he wishes as a show of power: a power bestowed upon him by a machine-gun and the knowledge of the unfaltering support and impunity – both social and military – behind his actions.

When it is finally discovered to be the woman’s boots setting off the alarm (a daily and usually unproblematic occurance) and noone cares to check the boots nor the woman’s bag, it is clear that the objective here is not security but humiliation. But this is how the Israeli occupation operates: by inflicting the most humiliation possible on the occupied population to break its spirit. Humiliation, humiliation, humalition. Day in and day out.

Israeli forces increase restrictions in Hebron neighborhood

2nd April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Saturday night, Israeli forces expanded a road-closure near Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), moving it further into the H1 area – that which is officially under full Palestinian control.

Cement blocks closing the access towards the checkpoint

After midnight on Saturday, 1st April 2017, Israeli forces began moving the large cement roadblocks further away from the checkpoint, thus creating an even larger space between the first roadblocks and the actual checkpoint. The large concrete blocks now stretch the width of the street leaving pedestrians only two narrow entrances along each side.

Shuhada checkpoint leads onto Shuhada Street, where Palestinian vehicles, including ambulances, are entirely forbidden, and Palestinians are only allowed if they are registered and numbered residents of the area. This new closure especially affects any Palestinian with difficulties walking or carrying heavy items, as they are now further impeded from reaching the checkpoint, a crossing that is already incredibly difficult to gain entrance through, even if you’re a registered Palestinian who lives on the other side.

Curfew, harassment and break-in for Shuhada Street as settlers celebrate Purim

14th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli settlers on 12th March 2017 harassed and threatened Palestinians and attempted to break into Shuhada Street kindergarten, as the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) was put under curfew for Palestinians so that settlers could celebrate Purim undisturbed by Palestinian presence.

As on every festive occasion celebrated at the illegal settlements in here, Palestinians had to expect even greater restrictions than usual on their freedom of movement and their human rights (almost non-existent even on ordinary days).

Around 11 am and with no notice at all, Israeli forces closed the Shuhada Street checkpoint, the main access-point for Palestinians into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, leaving many Palestinians stranded outside the checkpoint unable to get home. This  was essentially a curfew, as Palestinians already inside the checkpoint could not leave their homes for fear of attacks from the settlers.

Colonial settlers marching through Shuhada Street as Palestinians are under virtual curfew

Hundreds of settlers marched from the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement towards Ibrahimi Mosque on Shuhada Street, while  Israeli forces ensured that settlers did not have to see so much as a single local Palestinian resident on their way. Qurtuba school and Shuhada Street kindergarten were unable to sent their students home, as soldiers denied them passage and the street they need to walk down was completely blocked by settlers, who have a history of harassing and attacking Palestinian children here. Israeli forces also invaded a Palestinian family roof on Shuhada Street in order to watch the procession of costumed settlers.

Colonial settler child dressed up as a occupying soldier

A group of settlers, including infamous and violent Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה), appeared at the kindergarten door and tried to break in, while children were still playing inside.  At this commotion the kindergarten children came outside only to see settler children trying to climb the fence that is supposed to protect the kindergarten. At the same time, settler adults started banging on the kindergarten door and trying to open it, insulting and yelling at the Palestinians inside. Instead of stopping this attack, Israeli forces attempted to prevent Palestinians and internationals from filming the incident. Only after more than an hour of idly watching the settlers harass, insult and verbally abuse the Palestinians (see a video, video credit: Human Rights Defenders) and attempt to break into the kindergarten, did Israeli forces present at the scene finally ensure that the settlers moved away to allow the children get home.

Colonial settlers climbing protective fence at the kindergarten

Step by step Israeli forces limit access to Ibrahimi mosque area

7th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces on Monday night installed more concrete blocks near Queitun checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) further restricting Palestinian freedom of movement.

Israeli forces put a new line of cement blocks several meters away from Shuhada checkpoint, entirely blocking the access to the checkpoint for cars, only allowing Palestinians on foot to approach the checkpoint. This even further impedes the freedom of movement of Palestinians, and especially affects the elderly and people with disabilities, further clamping down on the already restricted movement of these most vulnerable groups.

New cement blocks blocking Palestinian movement

Accessing and passing checkpoints is only possible on foot, as Palestinians’ cars in the Ibrahimi Mosque area are entirely prohibited, creating a settler cars only area. Any Palestinian passing one of the many checkpoints in the area of the Ibrahimi Mosque is forced by the Israeli forces to pass through various turn-stiles, a metal detector, and to undergo a check supposedly for ‘security reasons’. Especially for the elderly and those with disabilities, this creates additional obstacles, as they have to wait standing or in wheelchairs until soldiers choose to open gates. Any materials, groceries or shopping has to be carried by hand through the checkpoint, and materials transported on a hand cart are at times denied to pass according whim.

Now, with the additional concrete blocks, any Palestinian coming by car, including those with mobility problems,  must walk even further simply to reach the checkpoint.  Slowly and surely, one by one, these measures are intended to restrict and minimize Palestinian freedom of movement and thus Palestinian presence in the area around the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Each is a small step in the gradual ethnic cleansing of Hebron centre.

Total impunity to mess with lives

14th February 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces, again, or rather still, are using their impunity as occupiers to humiliate, harass and intimidate Palestinians and internationals crossing Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

The Israeli forces at this checkpoint sit behind bullet proof glass in a closed checkpoint-box, that nobody can see into.  Anyone attempting to pass rings a bell to alert the soldiers inside, then waits for the soldiers to release the turnstile, which leads into the closed box. There you can see soldiers playing on their phones, gossiping, or even sleeping. When you enter the box, you have to put all your belongings, shopping, handbags, phones, change, and anything from your pockets on the table, before passing through the metal detector.

Then,  depending on the soldiers’ mood and whim, you might be allowed simply to leave and go on your way, or you could be asked to unpack all your bags, pass through the metal detector again (even if you didn’t set it off).  You might be asked to show your ID or passport, or asked for your resident’s number (all Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida have been registered and assigned numbers since the declaration of the area as a closed military zone since 1st November 2015).

Some soldiers are entirely uninterested in the whole process and allow people to pass without further ado, but many seem to enjoy the almost infinite power bestowed upon them with their Israeli army uniform. This stretches from making Palestinians wait in the rain  and ignoring the bell they need to ring to come through, to asking people to go back again and again through the metal detector for no reason, put babys on the ground in freezing temperatures, or denying them passage completely even after finding their resident’s number on the list. Palestinian school students and teachers attempting to reach their school are not exempted from this treatment.

But it goes even beyond that.

Soldiers often act without any clear rationale except disruption. For example, last week a soldier yelled at a woman to take off her shoes, as they set off the metal detector.  She goes through every day and the soldiers know that the shoes are what sets off the alarm, which she points out to him.  But today he starts yelling and tells her to shut up.  She refuses to take off her shoes and the soldier comes into the checkpoint box, uncomfortably close to her, yelling that he thinks she might have something else on her body. This alone can be considered a threat, as Israeli soldiers have shot a number of Palestinians at checkpoints here in the last year on the suspicion of ‘having a knife’, not necessarily attacking with it or even having it in their hand.  It is impossible to get new kitchen knives home from the shops for just this reason.

In the end, the soldier, meticulously and with a grin on his face, goes through the woman’s bag, ignoring the plastic-bag of groceries right next to the handbag on the table. The purpose is to harass, humiliate and intimidate, to make life difficult and hateful for the Palestinians who need to pass through several times daily.  Meanwhile growing numbers of Palestinians gather outside waiting to get through and home, hoping that it is not their turn to be humiliated by this occupying army.

Being yelled at, insulted, humiliated and harassed is rather the norm than the exception. It’s a calculated norm intended to make Palestinians’ life so unbearable that they will leave the area easing the way for more settlement expansion in the centre of the city. This, under international law is called creating a ‘coercive environment’ for ethnic cleansing, a war crime.