Etzion DCO: Two suits arrived and were immediately accepted
A picture of the checkpoint which is being moved for the new Emek Refaim National Park....so national that the checkpoint is being moved so as to prevent the inhabitants of Wallajah and those in the occupied territories from using the facilities of what was once their spring. Google: For years, the Israeli government has been confiscating lands in the Cremisan Valley to create the Emek Refaim Park, an Israeli National Park on the outskirts of Jerusalem that celebrates “historic agrarian landscapes” and “traditional culture.” Wallajah, a village adjacent to the Cremisan Valley has been hit particularly hard by these confiscations and accompanying restrictions to Palestinian movement. Most recently, Israeli authorities built a new checkpoint to bar residents from accessing Wallajah’s historic spring so that Israelis can enjoy it as part of Emek Refaim Park.
A man of 66 arrived with his son. Both of them have sat in jail. St. Yves managed to remove his prevention. The father had been in jail in 1992 for 10 years. His son at the age of 14 ...he is now 41 years old .... was jailed seven years for throwing stones. The father can visit Jordan....but he cannot get a permit to pray in Jerusalem. It is impossible to interview someone in that waiting room. It is a pity that one cannot give a recording of the background "music" which blasts through into a hall so that you hear it clearly outside. It is so clear that this is being done out of sheer spite.
A settler arrived and wandered around....we realised he was waiting for the unpleasant clerk. He did not like being photographed. She came out....and they had a long discussion. In the meantime, two very well-dressed men arrived. We thought they were from the PA but it turned out that the one was a lawyer who had come with his friend. Interestingly enough he knew no English. We tried to find out what their problem was and immediately the clerk became aware of what was happening.....seems that their suits made an impression on her because when we speak to the average Palestinian she does not deign to notice them or us. She screamed at the Palestinian cleaner not to speak to us and to go inside immediately. I thought she would burst a blood vessel. Then she quickly called someone from the army who came out and wanted to know who we were. MachsomWatch, we said, and we have the right to be here. Evidently the two men and their suits also impressed him as they were immediately told to come through. He has been" prevented" FROM THE AGE OF THREE.....WE HEARD CORRECTLY ...today he must be in his thirties. WONDERS OF THE EFFICIENT ARMY. And by the way no one else in his family is prevented.
Two sons of a man who arrived with a walker. His two sons had both been caught working illegally in Israel. We got them through in the usual way but told the boys to ask the soldiers to open the humanitarian entry for their father. Need it be said it was not done. But he managed to get through even if it did not seem physically possible and Shlomit managed to get the walker through.
We hear time and again the amount of time the Palestinians lose at the checkpoints ...we told them about the people who had sat in the traffic jams in Israel because of the demonstrations. It made me think...I wonder if any of them think of the Palestinians to whom this is an everyday occurrence?