International Checkpoint
Watch - Daily Observations
Date:
14/08/01
Time: 17:00 to 19:00
Place
Observed: Surda Checkpoint
Number
of Soldiers Present: Four Soldiers, one tower/outpost, one jeep, armored
Personnel Carrier on hill overlooking checkpoint
Events
Witnessed:
17:00
Upon our arrival at the checkpoint we find four young men being detained
by the side of the road. The
soldiers have their ID’s and are not allowing them to leave.
The road is blocked for traffic in both directions by the Israeli
soldiers. Cement blocks also
obstruct a part of the road and provide an area for the soldiers to either hide
behind or detain people in. An
ambulance is going through the checkpoint as we arrive, but besides it, no cars
are approaching the checkpoint. Everyone
must walk from the Ramallah side to the Birzeit side, a distance of 50 to 100
meters. The soldiers are randomly
stopping young men to check their IDs
.
17:15 Two more men are detained,
but are released after about five minutes
17:25 A taxi is let through from
Birzeit
17:30
A car is allowed to pass from Birzeit. During the time we are at the checkpoint,
about one car every five to ten minutes is let through.
Each car that approaches the soldiers is initially told to turn around,
but after some discussion about half are allowed to pass.
The rest of the cars are turned around.
17:38 Three of the men detained
are let go
17:45
An army jeep arrives
17:48
The last man detained is brought behind the cement blocks where handcuffs
(plastic bands) are placed around his wrists and he is forced to squat on the
ground. We move forward to intervene and are met by a soldier.
The soldier yells at us to get back and will not answer our questions.
He tells us we have no right to know anything and that we should leave.
He will not tell us the name of the person detained or let us talk to
him. A boy selling coffee who had
been talking to the man detained earlier tells us his name is Naser and that he
is from Jalazone Refugee Camp. We
are forced to move away from the checkpoint, but stay within view of the man
being detained.
18:04
The detained man is
transferred from behind the checkpoint into the back of the Jeep.
The back doors of the jeep are closed and it moves next to the Cement
Blocks on the Ramallah side of the Checkpoint.
We can no longer see anything.
18:08
An old woman exits a Service (taxi) trying to come through to Surda from
Ramallah to talk to the Soldiers. The
soldier she approaches responds by yelling at her in Hebrew before she can speak
and makes her get back into the Service. The
Service is eventually let through to Birzeit.
18:15
The Jeep containing the detained man moves 15 meters down the road, but does not
leave. This is the third time it
has moved since the man was placed in the back.
The soldiers have checked almost no IDs since the man was detained.
He has been their whole focus. They
still will not tell us why he has been detained.
18:20
Soldiers start checking IDs again and four more men are detained, but are
all released after only a few minutes. Regular
random checks continue and several men are temporarily detained during the rest
of our time at the checkpoint.
18:35
A second jeep arrives. It remains
only briefly and then heads back towards Beit El.
As it leaves, it approaches the taxis waiting for passengers on the
Ramallah side and forces them all to leave empty.
People walking through the checkpoint are forced to wait for new taxis to
arrive before they can leave.
18:38 Another four men are
detained for several minutes
18:53
A
private car that has been waiting to go through for more than an hour is finally
allowed to go to Birzeit from Ramallah.
19:00
We leave the checkpoint. The jeep
is still waiting there with the detainee inside.
We try one last time to talk to the soldiers and get information from
them, but they only joke around and will not answer any of our questions.