Security, My Arse

Yesterday, I was “illegally” roaming about in Israeli controlled area of Jericho of the West Bank, and no Israeli soldier cared to stop me once at a checkpoint or ask to show my ID.

I went to the Dead Sea with some of my friends in a yellow-plated rented car. My friends could get the car from Jerusalem because they are internationals as yellow-plated cars are allowed to be driven by Israeli citizens and internationals, only. They picked me up in Bethlehem and drove on Wadi Ennar road - the only road connecting the Bethlehem District with the Ramallah District. One would have to pass the Container Israeli Checkpoint to be able to proceed the journey. Not a single car or man was stopped for an identity check. All were waved through rather quickly. Now, what an arbitrary procedure to keep the Israeli State secure is this? It is worth mentioning here that once one gets through this checkpoint by the end of the Bethlehem District, one can get on the by-pass road of Ma’ale Adumim illegal Israeli industrial settlement. The settlement is treated as part of Great Jerusalem. So, technically, one can sneak into Jerusalem from there with no permit.
This did not stop there. Getting closer towards Jericho, we noticed that there were absolutely no checkpoints around. There used to be one there two months ago, but not today, strangely enough. Palestinians usually would have to drive all the way to central Jericho using that by-pass road. They are, supposedly, not allowed to take any turns from the main road until they get to central Jericho as for those turns would lead to either one of the Illegal Israeli settlements in the District of Jericho or to different Nature Reserve spots of Ein Jedi. Palestinians are not allowed there. However, would one not wonder about the reason of not having any Israeli checkpoints there to block the entrance of Palestinians into so-claimed-Israeli Territories? Well, we did get to the Dead Sea and Qumran - both places I am not allowed to enter as a Palestinian - because we simply could do so.
After enjoying a float and a look at some ancient ruins, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, we drove back towards Bethlehem. Just as we got back on the main by-pass road, a checkpoint immerged from the middle of nowhere. It must have appeared within the four hours, after we passed. The funny thing is that we discovered that it was a partial checkpoint, once we got closer. The Israeli soldiers were checking cars that drove towards Jericho, but not ones leaving Jericho. Amused by that, I started giggling to myself and shouting jokingly, while in the car, ‘I demand my right, as a Palestinian citizen, that my id be checked, and I be held for as long as it takes to, firmly and undoubtedly, show that I am not a threat to the State of Israel’.
Finally, we got back to the Container checkpoint to be stopped by a soldier. Apparently, yellow-plated cars are not allowed through though this specific checkpoint. We told the soldier that we were not stopped on the way out. He asked, ‘What time was that?’, ‘Around 11’, we said. ‘Oh, I was not here on duty, so it is not my fault’, he said while walking away towards the control to put the car registration number on the wire. He came back shortly after saying that the car cannot pass but that we can. He also suggested that we should go back and drive on the Jerusalem-Ma’ale Adumim road. Well, I cannot go there as I do not have a pass, meaning that I have to get off the car and get a transport back to Bethlehem. The soldier also said that my friends can meet me in Bethlehem after driving through at the Beit Jala DCO - District Coordination Office - checkpoint. At that point, I felt that I was pushing it a bit by asking, ‘Then, what difference does it make if my friends drive through this checkpoint instead of the other on the other side of the district. What is different about the DCO checkpoint’. However, the soldier responded calmly saying that he cannot tell me such information and that he is doing his job by applying the rules and instructions he was given. Eventually, and after a half an hour of “chit-chat”, he “made us a favour” and opened a gate to a shortcut to the Jerusalem-Ma’ale Adumim road, saving my friends an extra hour and a half drive. Well, there was no difference made on my case as I still had to get off and get myself into public transport.
Even when we were stopped at this checkpoint, the soldier did not ask for any ids or passports. I could have easily pretended to not speak Arabic and stay in the car with my friends, driving with them to Jerusalem. Besides, we were leaving so-claimed-Israeli Territories going to Palestinian Territories when we were eventually stopped by a soldier, while one would argue that this should have been done the other way round by the Israeli soldiers to insure the security of the State of Israel.