International Checkpoint Watch Report

International Checkpoint Watch (ICW)
Report on Solidarity Action in Deir Ibzi’a
2 June 2002

Context:

This is the third visit by ICW to the village of Deir Ibzi’a, west of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.  Deir Ibzi’a remains under closure by the Israeli Army, which maintains a checkpoint and roadblock along the single road which connects the village to Ramallah.  The de facto closure of Deir Ibzi’a has been in place since 20 February 2002, and since that time the villagers have been forced to walk in the hills between neighboring villages in order to reach taxis to Ramallah – the lifeline of Deir Ibzi’a and at least 40 other villages.  Today’s ICW visit, in coordination with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Hebron-based Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT), had multiple purposes.  First, to reassess the needs of the village in terms of medical supplies and other provisions and to report to Palestinian and International relief and development agencies.  Second, to be in solidarity with the villagers as they demonstrate against the closure of their village, providing extra security for them vis-à-vis the Israeli soldiers patrolling the roadblock.  Third, to go advance the cause of villages such as Deir Ibzi’a to the international media so that every effort will be made to alleviate the situation of the villagers affected by closures, curfews, roadblocks, and checkpoints.

Recent Developments in Deir Ibzi’a:

Deir Ibzi’a, like most villages in the West Bank, is outside Palestinian Authority municipal areas (i.e. outside Area A).  With the exception of some agricultural products, the villages rely on supplies from the main towns, Ramallah or Nablus, and from Israeli imports for basic food items like flour, rice, sugar, powdered milk, as well as utilities.  But for the past three months, the village clinic has not been able to open to serve the needs of the village because the doctor could not reach the clinic.  Villagers bring whatever medical supplies they can with them when they make trips from Ramallah, but more serious illnesses and emergencies present much more difficult and life threatening problems.  In April, one pregnant woman from a neighboring village lost her unborn baby from complications due to an injury sustained while traveling over the hills on her way to the hospital in Ramallah.  In late May, a woman from the neighboring village of Qibya, which also relies on the Deir Ibzi’a road to reach Ramallah, was not allowed to pass the checkpoint to go to Ramallah for a scheduled kidney dialysis and died shortly after as a result.

Several villagers spoke to us about the economy of the village, specifically the problems related to the closure.  Agricultural products grown or raised in Deir Ibzi’a can only make it as far as those adjacent villages to the west whose roads are not interrupted by checkpoints or roadblocks.  The fig harvest has just begun recently, and due to the closure the price of figs has dropped from NIS (New Israeli Shekel) 10 per kilogram last summer to NIS 1.5 this summer because farmers have a limited market (US $1 = NIS 4.9).  In previous years, figs from Deir Ibzi’a were sold all over the central West Bank and as far away as Tel Aviv.  A ten kilogram box of zucchini sells for NIS 7 in the village.  By comparison, the same amount of zucchini sells for NIS 40-50 in Ramallah because of the shortage of crops reaching the market from surrounding villages such as Deir Ibzi’a.  Before the closure, the village’s chicken farm used to maintain approximately 40,000 chickens that were marketed in Ramallah and other villages.  During more than three months of closure in which chicken feed was unable to reach the village and chickens and eggs could not reach larger markets, the number of chickens has dwindled almost to zero and cost local farmers more than NIS 250,000.

For municipal expenses, Deir Ibzi’a is almost entirely self-sufficient.  As one village council member explained, all finances for the upkeep of the school, the mosque, the roads, and the agricultural fields come directly from donations and funds from Deir Ibzi’a’s 1,600 residents.  As the local economy suffers from the closure and the loss of marketable goods and employment (which is largely only available in Ramallah), the village is unable to meet budgetary needs to maintain facilities and infrastructure.

In order to better connect the village to Palestinian infrastructure in the cities and to promote the needs of the village, several residents of Deir Ibzi’a are trying to establish a local NGO to maintain social activities and foster employment in the village.  The villagers are acting through their own initiatives and by their own funding to start.

(The ICW Report on Deir Ibzi’a dated 22 March 2002 contains further details and analysis on the hardships faced by the village under the Israeli closure).

Getting to Deir Ibzi’a:

Most of the international volunteers in Deir Ibzi’a made their way to the village by hiking over two hills from the village of Ain Ariq (between Deir Ibzi’a and Ramallah) – approximately 35 minutes.  Occasionally, the Israeli soldiers patrol the hills on foot to check the ID’s and bags of villagers.  On our way out of the village, we witnessed three Israeli soldiers detaining ten Palestinian men and two women more than one hundred meters up the hill from the road and the checkpoint.  The Palestinians were made to open their bags for inspection and held for about ten minutes before being released.

Several members of the international group approached the checkpoint and roadblock along the road from Ain Ariq to Deir Ibzi’a and were allowed to pass.  But no Palestinian is allowed even to approach the checkpoint on foot or by car, as the soldiers frequently fire their guns in the vicinity of civilians if they come too near the checkpoint.  Some of the internationals arrived the day before. They saw some soldiers check people behind the house and went up to the roof to take pictures. Immediately the soldiers came storming to the house and wanted to know who was on the roof. When they saw it was foreigners they left.

Solidarity Action: 

By 12:00 noon, more than fifteen internationals from ICW and ISM had gathered at the home of Deeb Kamal, a Palestinian with German citizenship who lives on the eastern hilltop of the village.  From his home we proceed to the village’s central grocery store to meet the delegation from CPT. We then proceeded to Deir Ibzi’a’s mosque where we held an informal village meeting in the courtyard in front of the mosque.  Most of the town’s elders and the village council were present.  While we gathered, an Israeli Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) drove up on the street adjacent to the mosque and stopped for a few moments.  As it attempted to turn around in the road, many village children gathered around to observe.  They made “V” signs and stared at the soldiers, but there was not any violent confrontation.  The APC turned around and drove back to the edge of the village.

During the village meeting, many villagers asked us about making a demonstration to the checkpoint.  The older men and women gave specific instructions to the young children not to throw stones or engage in any kind of activity that would break the non-violent nature of the march.  The international volunteers organized the structure of the march, which included foreigners at the front, followed by women and older men, and finally young men and children at the back.  From the mosque, we paraded through the village towards the roadblock.  By the time we approached the soldiers, the demonstration had more than 200 Palestinian villagers behind the thirty internationals.

One volunteer from CPT approached the Israeli officer in charge of the checkpoint to inform him of our non-violent action.  Reaching a compromise with the soldiers, the demonstration was allowed to come within fifty meters of the roadblock where it was stopped by a parked jeep and seven soldiers.  Another three soldiers were visible on top of the APC about forty meters up the hill about the checkpoint.

At this stopping point, the entire procession of demonstrators sat down on the road.  One villager, Ali Othman, gave a speech in Arabic about how the closure of Deir Ibzi’a affects the lives of the villagers and other neighboring villages.  The speech was translated into English as he spoke.  After he had finished, several other villagers and internationals spoke about the dire situation and the immediacy of the problems facing Deir Ibzi’a.  Throughout the sit-in action, the soldiers remained only several meters from the group but did not make any provocations.

After almost an hour at the roadblock, we asked the Israeli officer if he wanted to comment or respond to the many things said by the villagers.  He declined to speak.  Then the whole procession stood up and slowly returned to the village.  Some villagers coming from Ain Arik who could see the gathering behind the checkpoint must have thought that now they might be allowed to pass and approached the roadblock. But the soldiers sent them back. Some of the internationals and the CPT delegation were allowed to go back on the road and climb over the trenches.

Results and Summary:

The demonstration to the checkpoint and roadblock was chiefly the initiative of the villagers of Deir Ibzi’a.  More than one told us that the village had wanted to do this kind of action for a long time, but everyone was afraid of the reaction of the soldiers in the absence of an international presence or media.  There was only a single international press crew on hand to document the demonstration. 

While the solidarity action and demonstration can be deemed successful in terms of sponsorship by and participation with the village community, the demonstration itself will do little to alleviate the immediate suffering of the villagers of Deir Ibzi’a and the tens of thousands in neighboring villages.  Palestinians and internationals both agree that this must become part of a broader effort to promote the circumstances of Palestinian villages under Israeli closure and work towards easing the conditions on Palestinians in conjunction with the overall goals of ending the occupation of Palestinian land and people.  In particular, this means first and foremost opening the roadblocks and checkpoints that dissect villages from each other and from Palestinian cities so that economic activity and medical and social services can operate without hindrance or danger to the lives and rights of individuals.  International Checkpoint Watch joins the villagers of Deir Ibzi’a in demanding the immediate removal of these blockades and closures of Palestinian areas and easing the livelihoods of all Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.