Huwara Checkpoint Outside Nablus

Hawara Checkpoint Outside Nablus

It didn't take long for the cab to get me from the Faraa Refugee Camp to the Hawara checkpoint. I knew that even though I had trouble getting into Nablus at the Beit Eba checkpoint, I knew that getting out through the Hawara checkpoint was going to be an experience. As the cab pulled up to drop me off, I could already see the lines of people waiting to be processed. Two lines specifically, one for those who are not considered a security risk because they are over 45 or female, and the other for men under the age of 45. I got into the line that was for people over 45, and being an international, especially from the United States, I didn't expect special treatment, but I certainly expected humane treatment. I was in for a lesson.

As the crowd packed into the small area for passing, and people jostling for position, I got myself in line and slowly worked my way to the front. When I got to the front of the line, and held up my US passport, I expected to be waived through. Like I said, I expected no special treatment, but just humane treatment. At this time, I was pulled out of line by one of the Israeli boy soldiers and was escorted with prompting by an m-16 rifle butt. As one boy soldier pushed me to the side, another lowered his m-16 and pointed it straight towards my chest. I initially thought there must be a mistake, but there was no mistake, I was being singled out.

The questioning started at this point, "Why are you here?", "Where did you come from?", "Who did you visit?", "What is the purpose of your trip?" Of course, I wasn't going to say I was doing aid work for the Palestinians, that was a sure ticket for deportation. I explained that I was there for religious and archeological reasons. Thinking that surely they would let me go then I was shocked with the continued badgering and the forceful use of the m-16 rifle butt. The rifle butt did not concern me nearly as much as the business end, the other boy soldier had pointed at my chest. Now, seriously, I knew they were not going to shoot me, right there in the open, however, they did have the intent of trying to terrorize me into either confessing to something I didn't do, or to scare me from ever attempting to return through this checkpoint again. I will say, that I am not easily scared and continued to stick with my story. At this point in time they made me remove my jacket, it was about 2 degrees centigrade as well as my shirt. Even though I had a back pack I was carrying, that had receipts for purchases of food stuffs, medical supplies, and sponsorship donations, they were so worried about harassing me, that they never even bothered to look in my backpack. This torment at the end of an m-16 continued for about 15 minutes until an Israeli officer appeared from the building beside the checkpoint.

The officer must have seen what was transpiring, and while the boy soldiers were harassing me, the line at the checkpoint just kept getting longer and longer. I guess the officer came to see what terrorist activity I must be up to, to be detained, questioned and harassed for so long. He asked for my passport, looked me over, looked at his boy soldiers and told them to let me go through.

Here we have a perfect example of absolute power corrupts absolutely. Two boys, probably 19 or 20, had all the power in the world to stop me, detain me, harass me, strip me, abuse me with the butt of the weapon and threaten me with the other end. Who was going to stop them? Who, other than their superior officers, had any say about what they did? I had to stop and wonder, if they were doing this to their closest allies in the world, what were they doing to the Palestinians when no one was looking. I think that we have heard those horror stories, but since they come from Palestinians, we disregard them as unreliable, biased, or made up. I can assure you, as an American citizen, I have never been treated with such disrespect, contempt and utter hatred by a country that receives 3.2 billion dollars of my countries tax dollars as direct aid and a total of 7 billion dollars, with all the "hidden" extras..

The situation is one that not only I have experienced, but something that most internationals experience while trying to travel through the West Bank. The Israeli soldiers have no intent of deporting, arresting, or otherwise creating an international incident over an American at a checkpoint. However, they do have the intent of harassing internationals to the point that they no longer visit the West Bank, thus depriving the Palestinians of any peripheral funds that are spent by tourists. Of course, they have cut off all funds to the government, and the only other way outside money that gets in is through tourism. Just another method used to strangle the Palestinians and their economy to force them to submit to whatever demands the Israeli's happen to drum up at that particular time.

I gathered my backpack, put on my shirt and coat, glanced back with a couple of dirty looks, and then moved on to catch a taxi. Even the Palestinians in line were wondering what my crime was. My crime was being a white American in the West Bank, something the Israeli's hate to see. Why? Because no one believes the Palestinians when they say they are abused, or they believe by the actions of a few that they deserve it, but an American, well, we have done nothing to deserve the abuse, but we are witnesses, witnesses to the crimes against humanity, we are witnesses to the cruel treatment, we are witnesses to the starving children, deprived of medical attention and we are witnesses to the Palestinians who want peace and express it, we are witnesses to war crimes, something Israel does not want Americans to know about. So what do they do? They try to eliminate the witnesses. Any good criminal knows if no one sees what they do, there is no crime, Right? What's the old saying, it is only a crime if someone sees it, well, they are trying to eliminate any witnesses. That was the crime I committed. I was a white American telling the truth, something quite uncommon these days and certainly something they have a reason to fear. If every American spent a week traveling around the West Bank, there would be no more support for Israel, there would be an immediate end to the occupation and Israel would be forced into a peaceful solution. This is something Israel does not want, because they believe, given enough time, they can take for their own, every piece of land in the West Bank, and if the Americans don't know the truth, they wont stand in the way. It seems a shame to say, and if I didn't see it, if I didn't experience it, I wouldn't say it, but it is the truth.