CPTnet
14 September 2007
AT-TUWANI REFLECTION: What's the point?
by Eileen Hanson
For the last two weeks, the Israeli army has set up a 'flying' (temporary)
checkpoint just outside Tuwani on Friday evenings. Each time the soldiers
show up in their jeep and put a string of spikes across the road, we go down
to monitor what is happening. We document any searches that take place and
prepare to respond in case of abuses.
Typically, these temporary checkpoints last a few hours. Soldiers stop
cars, check IDs, and search a few trunks. They also check people walking
from villages around Tuwani to and from the nearby city of Yatta, including
infants in their mothers' arms. Aside from settler traffic, which does not
have to stop, soldiers mostly see a lot of tractors and sheep trailers. I
wondered one Friday if they were going to search the sheep!
Failing to see the point of these countless searches, I recently asked one
young soldier on duty what they were doing. He said they were "looking for
stolen cars or weapons." Still curious, I followed up, "Do you find a lot
of weapons this way?" "No. The people with the weapons see the checkpoint
and make a U-turn. There's nothing we can do."
Since I felt he understood me, and also because I was tired of standing
around on a cold windy night, I pressed a bit and said, "So that makes this
kind of pointless, huh?" Now were both smiling, and he said, "Yes. If it
were up to me, I'd be home in bed."
Soldiers can't possibly find anything using this method--not that I'm
convinced there's anything to find. The soldiers and jeeps are visible from
a half mile away. Everyone, including the soldiers, knows that anyone who
might be trying to move contraband could simply wait until the soldiers
leave.
Last Saturday, soldiers again set up a flying checkpoint just outside
Tuwani. This group of soldiers seemed dangerous. They were wrestling with
one another and pointing the laser guides of their automatic weapons at
objects in the darkness. They became more rude and rowdy as the evening
wore on. When they turned up the American rock and roll music, I wondered
if this is what the US occupation in Iraq looks like.
After waving a pickup truck through, one soldier pointed the laser guide of
his automatic weapon at the abdomen of the young boy riding in the back of
the truck. The boy said something, and then the laser point moved,
appearing next on the child's face.
It was then I thought I could see the point, tragic and awful as it is. It
isn't about finding weapons or stolen cars. It's not about finding the bad
guy. It's a display of power. Checkpoints are a way of reminding everyone,
even the kids, who's in charge.
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