Checkpoint of no return

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1. Update on Jaber, detainee with meningitis

30/04/05

On Friday April 29 Ha'emek hospital released Jaber, returning him to
Salem Detention camp. He had been taken to Ha'emek hospital last week
after his medical situation had deteriorated.

The hospital doctor signed a paper stating that Jaber was now fit to
be released into prison custody, but acknowledged to Hanah, a
volunteer with IWPS, that he did not know a great deal about viral
meningitis, nor care required following the disease. Neither did he
have any information regarding the conditions under which Jaber would be held.

Hanah and Dorthy Naor, an Israeli activist, managed to see him for a
few minutes as he was taken from the hospital, despite the attempts
of three soldiers guarding Jaber to stop them.

They reported that Jaber seems stronger and in better spirits but that
his legs are shackled. The soldiers used a wheel chair to take him to
an unmarked car, in which they presumably drove him to Salem prison
where he is currently being held.

A person recovering from meningitis should not undergo interrogation
in a military camp.

Please call the following numbers and demand that Jaber be either
released to his home or to another medical facility for full
recovery.

Israeli Army phone numbers:
DCO in Jenin: +972(0)4.640.7312 or +972(0)4.617.9207
DCO Humanitarian Office: +972(0)2.997.7733

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2. ON THE FIRST OF MAY THE WORKERS OF BIL'IN WILL PROTEST AGAINST
THE THEFT OF THEIR LIVLIHOOD

30 April 2005

[Ramallah, West Bank] Tomorrow at 11:00am workers and farmers from
Bil'in, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, will
march to the construction site of the Annexation Wall to protest the
theft of their livelihood.

Before the current Intifada many Bil'in residents worked in Israel. Today with
unemployment soaring at over 60% the village depends on its agricultural land to
survive.

More than half of Bil'in's land, 2300 Dunams, will be lost
beyond the Wall and has been earmarked for settlement expansion.

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3. Al Aqaba written by flo
Another Village under Attack

The mountains of Palestine form a sharp edge that plunges into the
Jordan Valley as if cut by a knife. Almost to the rim of this
drastic landscape lies the village of Al Aqaba, located in the
farthest Palestinian lands of the Jenin region. It is almost a no-
man's land, nestled in the soft rolling foothills of
the towering mountains, stirred by the strong breeze cooling the hot
spring day.

We went to Al Aqaba to speak with Haj Sami, the mayor. When he was
16, Haj Sami was shot by the Israeli military as he walked across
the land to see his family. One of the bullets he still carries in
his body, being too near his spine to safely remove. The military
uses the land around Al Aqaba for their training practices, having
killed 8 and wounded 50 since 1971. Haj Sami's wound is one such
example. He has been paralyzed since.

Our discussion this day revolved around the current situation in Al
Aqaba, of which there are several. There are currently 2 demolition
orders from the Israeli military against the village. One order is
for the 3 permitted buildings of the village and 17 homes. The 3
permitted buildings have all been recently built with the assistance
of foreign government agencies and NGO's. The village has hired a
lawyer and taken this order to the Israeli courts, having won an
injunction until June 6, 2005, when their case will be heard.

The village medical clinic, open 6 days a weeks, with a doctor on
duty 3 of those days, serves the entire eastern area of the Tubas
region. The kindergarten has 60 students with 6 teachers, while the
secondary school has an enrollment of 72 students with 4 teachers.
The mosque, clinic, kindergarten and secondary school are all under
the threat of demolition.

The second order is for three homes of the village which house over
27 people, mostly children. The homes are Bedouin style, consisting
of a series of tent structures and animal corrals. This order was
served within the last week, giving the residents 72 hours to
evacuate. With only the verbal assurance from the attorney
representing the Israeli military that they will not carry out the
order until the village is able to take the case to the courts,
everyday is an uncertainty if the military will show up with
bulldozers in order to carry out the order or not.

Al Aqaba also has a case of their own in the Israeli court system,
fighting to stop the 2 military bases in the area. Since the
1970's, the Israeli military has used the land around Al Aqaba as
a
training ground, having told the residents it is due to the similar
landscape of southern Lebanon. From atop the kindergarten building
of Al Aqaba, one can see the evidence on the surrounding landscape
of this fact, with tunnels built underneath the hillside and a
circle of bunkers dug a little further off. During our visit, F16
fighter jets regularly flew over head.

In the medical clinic there was a wall of pamphlets instructing the
youth how to identify and avoid missiles strewn about the country
side. These missiles, left behind during trainings by the Israeli
military, are live and have maimed many of the young people of Al
Aqaba. The pamphlets instruct the children through use of cartoon
imagery in what the missiles look like and to call the police if
spotted.

Only within the past year has Al Aqaba been granted permission by
the Israeli military to wire electricity to their homes. In the past
when the village was given a generator by the Palestinian Authority,
the military entered the village and confiscated it after the
residents' initial attempt to use it. They still are required to
haul water from a distant well due to lack of military permission
granted and for the same reason, the roads into and out of the
village are only partially paved.

With introductions and initial information about Al Aqaba shared, we
began a walking tour. As we ventured the short distance from the
medical clinic to kindergarten, it seemed to me that we were the
only living souls within miles. The village was eerily quiet, except
for the strong wind that blew. The only residents of Al Aqaba that I
had seen, except for Haj Sami, was the old man who had brought
chairs for us to sit under the tree in what I assumed was the center
of town, and the young school headmistress who had appeared as
quietly as the old man had disappeared after serving us coffee. They
seemed to materialize and vanish into the thick air like apparitions.
It felt like a ghost town, a village vacant save for these three
souls I had encountered, which I was actually starting to question
the existence of. I heard no voices, no laughter or calls of
`what's yer name' from children amazed at the sight of foreigners.
No vehicle had passed since our arrival.

It's unusual in a place like Palestine to encounter such
stillness and quiet in the middle of a village. Generally, there are
noises, motion, some sort of signs of life. Al Aqaba was different
though, not feeling dead, but only uninhabited.

Before 1967, Al Aqaba was inhabited by 200 families, with an average
of 10 people each. There are now 300 people that comprise the
village. Much of the extreme decline in population, according to Haj
Sami, is due to the restrictions placed on the village by the
Israeli military. Until quite recently, there was no ability for the
village inhabitants to educate themselves, no work and since 1967
there has been a military ban on the people of Al Aqaba to build
themselves new homes. The army also burns the grazing
lands around the village, leaving the Al Aqaba shepherds no where to
graze their flocks.

When you stand in the center of Al Aqaba, which in reality is only a
stones throw from any point that is the edge of the village, it
becomes clear that these multiple demolition orders issued by the
Israeli military mean almost total destruction of the village. These
orders, only the newest step in the war Israel
has been waging against Al Aqaba since 1971, add to the list of
building bans, prior demolitions and restrictions on the progress of
infrastructure.

During our conversation, Haj Sami repeatedly asked why a superpower
such as Israel, with nuclear capabilities and a first world
military, would care to make war on the people of the tents. We had
no answer for him.

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4. Checkpoint of no return written by Kasper

In a time of empty talk of peace and celebrating Ariel Sharon as a
man of peace moderate politics, because of extremists' protest
against evacuation from Gaza, the situation on the ground in
Palestine sees remarkably little change.

Everyday life in the occupied territories is as always a continuous
chaos of military interference.

One of the most obvious and constantly present exponents is the
Israeli grip on Palestinian freedom of movement, suffocating the
fragile infrastructure.

"I'm here to protect my country against terrorists," the
young man tells me shrugging as if he is not completely confident
with his answer. "So have you seen a lot of terrorists here in
Hebron?" I ask eager to get a first-hand description of such a
menace. Having spent almost two months in Palestine I am relatively
convinced I have yet to see a single one. And yet, I heard so much
about them before I came here. On the other hand I have seen a lot
of things that do not get as much attention back home, like this
checkpoint where I am talking to guys even younger then myself and
armed to the teeth. Five young Palestinian men leaned against the
wall. They have been waiting patiently to have their ID's returned
for half an hour, but they don't look very menacing. They are used
to it, they say. It is not a problem; these soldiers are not even
beating them up. It is a lot better in Hebron now they claim.
Before, the children would often come to school bleeding from the
forehead, because the soldiers used to scrape their faces along the
wall for kicks. They don't really do that anymore.

My friend Laurence who has been staying in Hebron for four months
breaks into the conversation between myself and the soldier: "If I
was a terrorist that wanted to get into the old city, I'd probably
spend an extra ten minutes and walk around this checkpoint." The
checkpoint is a permanent one by the entrance to the old city in
Hebron. There is no problem in walking around it, besides it being a
hassle. "But they don't do that," the soldier answers. "They are so
stupid, the terrorists, I don't know why. Well, sometimes they do it
right, but they are just so stupid."

Having spent just a little time in Palestine, one will learn that in
most situations, checkpoints are avoidable and not very thorough in
checking. One of countless examples is the major checkpoint of
Qalandiya, at the entrance of Ramallah, which features two lines for
men, one with a metal detector, and one without. You're free to
choose between them. One must wonder if security really is the
essential issue.

Checkpoints

A checkpoint is a military installation varying in size, with the
purpose of making soldiers capable of easily controlling and
checking Palestinian movement from one point to another. For example
from Palestine and into Israel, but a large majority operate within
the occupied territories impairing movement between Palestinian
towns. Or in the middle of Hebron, making it difficult, and
sometimes impossible, for children to go to school or for the Muslim
population to get to the mosque.

In addition to the permanent checkpoints, Palestinians are daily
bothered by dozens of so-called "flying checkpoints", in
essence one or more military vehicles parked pulling Palestinian
cars over for checking. The constant criminalizing and humiliation
of ordinary people trying to lead a normal life is extremely tiring
to witness.

The Israeli human rights organization B'tselem, last year
published a report about this phenomenon which states that in the
period of 2000 – 2004, at least 39 Palestinians died at checkpoints
because of soldiers denying or delaying access to medical treatment.
B'tselem's report sees the checkpoints as but a detail of the
racist Israeli policy of separation, which seeks to make life in the
occupied territories as miserable as possible. By claiming that all
Palestinians are potential terrorists, Israel punishes a whole
population and perpetrates daily crimes violating human rights and
international law as it sees fit.

The forbidden roads regime

Since the occupation of the West bank and Gaza in 1967, Israel has
spent billions of shekels building roads in the occupied territories.

The "bypass-roads" connect the Israeli settlements in a big
contiguous area making up for 60 % of the West Bank. The rest
consists of more than a hundred smaller islands in this sea of
forbidden roads and stolen land. On these roads, Palestinian
vehicles are completely or partially prohibited access. The roads
with complete prohibition are referred to by the military
as "sterile roads".

The Israeli authority claims that the Palestinian population also
benefits from these, and official limitation of Palestinian movement
is in fact hard to find in writing. As is often case in the
Palestine, the reality on the ground is remarkably different from
official descriptions. With the use of hour-long delays, cement
blocks or other forms of obstacles at the entrances of bypass-roads,
unreasonable imposing of fines and confiscations of Palestinian
vehicles, the Israeli system facilitates the deterrence of
Palestinian movement.

Even though Israel is rarely mentioned as an occupational power by
mainstream media, it is only with such a status that the existence
of the forbidden roads regime is possible. This status makes it
possible for Israel to rely largely on verbal orders and leave the
smaller military units relatively autonomous to sabotage Palestinian
day-to-day life. The absence of written orders also effectively
prevents proper official discourse on the subject.

Gaza, strictly bad business

When one speaks with the young soldiers at the checkpoints about
their service in the occupied territories, they are often puzzled by
the fact that we want to volunteer here. If they were able to decide
for themselves, many say, they would get drunk and party in Tel
Aviv, India, Europe or wherever. This is just a job. But often there
is some pride to be found in their voice. They are proud to serve
their country, many say. But is it Israel that these young
men serve, obstructing Palestinian lives in the occupied
territories? Or is it merely serving the agenda of the military
elite which makes up the government?

Israeli professor Tanya Reinhart, points out in her book
"Israel/Palestine – How to end the war of 1948", that the majority of
Israelis in several polls desire withdrawal from the occupied
territories. A main problem in the Israeli political system
is a familiar one. When Israelis vote, they effectively have only
two candidates to choose from, always with a military background and
through the somewhat different rhetoric, the same agenda: no
concessions.

Sharon's plan of withdrawal from Gaza, should it ever come true,
merely stems from economic concerns, even though it has undoubtedly
shown to have a completely undeserved PR bonus. Israel will continue
to have all the control and options of military interference it
could ever want, but leaves the Palestinian Authority with the
responsibility of costly areas such as health and educational
services in a territory exhausted by almost forty years of
occupation.

It has nothing to do with peace gestures; it is merely a way to try
to save the ready-to-crumble Israeli economy. A true Israeli
aspiration for peace will be easy to recognize, since it will start
with unconditional military withdrawal, at least a theoretical
recognition of the Palestinian refugees' right of return and an
evacuation of at least 90% of the settlements as an absolutely
feasible minimum. But as the Western heads of state and media are
competing in praising Sharon to the clouds, the Palestinian reality
on the ground is the same.

And the checkpoints? Business as usual.