G. S., Lieutenant, Infantry Reserves

In cases where you tell the owner of a car that he cannot pass through a checkpoint and he tries to do so more than once, sometimes he is "left out to dry" for several hours. His ID card is simply taken away from him and he waits there until it is returned to him. The situation now is much calmer. Unlike in the past, I have not encountered incidents of releasing air out of car tires.

At the entrance to every village in the area, such as Beit Omar or El Arub, there is a watchtower in which there are four soldiers including the commander. The commander is a non-commissioned officer. They are there to stop stone throwing and hostile terrorist activity. But they are also supposed to oversee who goes in and out of the village. They are supposed to ensure that no private vehicles leave. There is usually a free flow of traffic, but there are cases where people without permits try to get by or try to "be clever," meaning that they are not let through and so they come back two hours later and try to "sneak through" one way or another. The commander sometimes punishes them, meaning he leaves them there for hours. Their ID cards are taken and they deliberately takes at least two hours to check them out, or if they came by car the air is let out of its tires. I only came across one incident of letting air out of tires, and in that case it was to the cart of a tractor and not the tractor itself. These punishments are not carried out based on orders from the higher commanders, but in my opinion they are condoned.

The nature of the activity at the checkpoints depends on the commander in the field. There is a lot of traffic in the area, including unauthorized movement. For example, there are three Palestinian buses with travel permits, but there are dozens of buses that are allowed through because the commanders know it will avoid trouble. In principle they can be prohibited from passing, but the commanders know that if the people cross by foot there is a greater chance that they will throw stones. What develops is a kind of "balance of fear" with the local population. From the moment that they feel that we are being lenient, allowing them too much, and that the checkpoint commander is understanding and lets people and vehicles pass without permits, they increasingly exploit the situation. Then he [the commander] has to show them that there is a limit as to how far they can go and that the games have ended. So there are commanders that drag it out and allow a lot until the Palestinians start to "get smart" with them and only then will they stop it. That can take a good few days. And then there are those who come with an attitude that they will not be messed with. The Palestinians know the rules, they know the restrictions. The first time that someone tries to be clever with me, he will pay the full price. After that, everyone will be cautious with me. As for the commander who deflated the tires of a vehicle, he did the right thing. They won't try to be clever with him again.

The orders are that ambulances are allowed to pass through. If it seems suspicious then search it. As for people in private vehicles who say that they have to get to hospital, you may let them pass but there is a chance that they will be detained at the next checkpoint. In principle, I can let them through my checkpoint and then notify the other checkpoints that I am in charge of to let them through, but that is the most I can do. In my opinion, the vehicle will be stopped somewhere along the way. The regulations are clear, but what happens in practice is different. Someone can prevent a humanitarian case from passing through because of their ideology. We were never given clear guidance as to what constitutes humanitarian cases. My interpretation is that they cases were there is someone who is wounded, a pregnant woman, someone who needs to get to hospital etc. The problem is with the situations that are less clear cut. A wounded man or a pregnant woman are the easy cases. The question is what do you do if someone says they have to get to hospital for regular treatment, and his travel permit expired three weeks ago. That is a gray area. The commander is the one who decides when it comes to gray areas.