Update from Hebron-July 19, 2009

July 19, 2009. I'm sitting just outside of Hebron, West Bank, with 45 other Palestinians all in six taxis. We are waiting for the five Israeli soldiers stationed here to check all six taxis for any young Palestinian men and then to confirm their ID's. This checkpoint, a "flying checkpoint," was set up just for today to stop the taxis passing by on Route 60 for a security check. These flying checkpoints along with six hundred other more permanent checkpoints throughout the West Bank keep the lives of these people very restricted and difficult and, in my opinion, contribute to the violence which sometimes erupts in this land. This is indeed collective punishment. Such widespread punishment on all the people: farmers, teachers, students, families, people of all trades needing to pass through these checkpoints possibly several times a day is totally illegal according to Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.

Just this last Friday, mosque prayer day, other team members and I stationed ourselves near one of our four neighborhood checkpoints in Hebron. There near Ahwad's variety goods store -open every day in this vulnerable area as a form of resistance to the Occupation- we CPTers see eleven young men being detained by the two soldiers stationed at this checkpoint. Up to this moment the men passed by in constant numbers to go to the mosque, but now as the time gets very near for the Call, detentions begin with greater consistency. In questioning, one of the soldiers says he doesn't know these men; so they could be a threat. They need, therefore,to be checked. But, I wonder, what about all the unfamiliar women who passed by and the hundreds of other men? Did this soldier recognize ALL of them?

But now, back at this checkpoint outside of Hebron, I pass my time by conversing with the young woman beside me. She says she never knows whether she'll arrive at her classes on time no matter how early in the day she starts out for class. Another woman passenger seems to be on her way to join her family in Bethlehem. An older man quips a few remarks to lighten the air. One shabab (young man) makes several calls on his cell phone while the professional man in my same seat sighs, checks his watch, lays his head back. I notice the immense frustration. One never gets used to such humiliating times.

Forty minutes pass; five soldiers all equipped with M-16's return the ID's and motion for all the drivers to move on. Relief!... along with another humiliation and much frustration. Security???

Each time I write these articles from the West Bank, I realize that some readers may argue that I'm presenting only the Palestinian side of the conflict. Indeed I am. It has become quite obvious to me that our American mainstream media presents the "other" side very well. Please always feel free to email me at pauletteosf@hotmail.com.