Testimonies

S.M., Staff Sgt., Infantry Brigade

The checkpoint does not really prevent terrorist activity. Lately there were several attacks that were not prevented by the checkpoint being there. The shifts at the checkpoint are 8 AM - 8 PM, which is exhausting [for soldiers]. There are two typical responses to the fatigue. There are those who check less carefully and there are those whose "fuse" is shortened and for any small thing they will decide not to let people pass.


The orders change all the time based on security warnings and decisions of the politicians. The decision as to who gets through and who doesn't can change from one day to the next. The District Coordinating Office [DCO] told us that public transportation is supposed to be allowed through. All that has to be checked is that the taxi belongs to the driver. Those orders caused problems because some of the taxi drivers don't own their taxis. Also in the company we were told that the taxi drivers have to show that they have work permits as taxi drivers in Israel. I don't think such permits exist. There are general work permits for merchants, but not for taxi drivers.


The orders are that humanitarian cases be let through. The army issued a "humanitarian guidebook" for checkpoint commanders. The guide explains what is defined as an humanitarian case and what is not. I do not remember what the guide says. At the beginning of our service, the brigade commander also talked to us about humanitarian cases. He said that if someone shows up at the checkpoint with a bleeding child and says he was run over, for example, then we should either call an ambulance to come to the checkpoint and take him to a hospital in Israel or let him pass. He said it was in our discretion. He added that there could be weapons hidden under the child and that he could not tell us in advance whether to inspect the vehicle or not. He said we must use our own judgment. In practice, there were checkpoint commanders who, if they were given physician's notes in Arabic which had the doctor's name written in English for example, would let the person pass even though the individual did not have a permit. And there were commanders who said that the note was not an official permit, so they would not let the person cross. It is very hard to determine whether a note is real or if the person is trying to fool you. The soldiers at the checkpoint do not speak Arabic, and we don't know what is written in the physicians notes we are shown.


One day when I was on duty at the checkpoint, our sergeant suspected that a paramedic's certificate, given to him by Palestinian trying to cross the checkpoint, was a forgery. The paramedic, who was in his private car rather than an ambulance, insisted that the certificate was genuine. Instead of clearing things up with the DCO or the General Security Services, the sergeant decided to check whether he was a paramedic by asking him for the definition of HIV. The Palestinian was shocked by the question, or more correctly by the fact that a 20 year old kid was giving him a pop quiz at a checkpoint. When he didn't answer, the sergeant told him to get lost.


The checkpoint exists, in my opinion, to put pressure on the Palestinian population. Officers explicitly told me that the checkpoint has no security value and was meant to harass the population.