ISRAEL: Nine hours at Eretz checkpoint

By Ashraf Khalil in Chicago

My adventures as an Arab American journalist crossing in and out of Israel have already been documented here.

But even for someone who goes in expecting delays, aggressive questioning and the occasional strip search, my experience on Sunday leaving the Gaza Strip through the Eretz border crossing was a shock.

About 18 months ago, Israel completed construction of a massive automated inspection terminal at Eretz.

The size of a warehouse, a bewildering high-tech cattle pen built with one primary goal: to ensure that everyone coming out of Gaza gets their bags and their body thoroughly screened long before they ever get in a room with an Israeli.

Dozens of automated doors and gates open and close before you; disembodied Israeli voices tell you where to stand, when to walk into various scanning devices and when to open your bags, display them to the cameras and place them on conveyor belts.

The terminal was built...

t...with the idea of screening the many Gazan laborers who used to commute daily to their jobs in Israel. A few months after the opening, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, and Israel (with Egyptian assistance) largely sealed Gaza's borders.

Now nobody even tries to get out except journalists, Gazans employed by international organizations, those with high-level connections to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah or medical-need cases cleared for treatment in Israeli hospitals.

Eretz normally opens around 7 a.m. I arrived Sunday at 10:30 a.m., hoping to miss the morning rush of medical patients. I found a large group of Palestinians gathered outside the trailer that serves as a coordination office with the Israelis. The border hadn't opened yet and there was no word on when it would.

We waited. There was nothing else to do. We drank tea and coffee, and swapped cigarettes and stories. Two enterprising youths sold lemon slushies out of a cooler, which tasted and felt fantastic on a blazing day. A small group of presumably urgent medical cases was permitted through around 11:30, then nothing for hours.

Around 1:30 p.m. I started to worry, since the border was supposed to close at 2:30.

I called the manger of the crossing. He first denied there was anything wrong, then said to call him back in 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes. On the final call, he yelled at me to leave him alone and direct my calls to the army, then hung up. (In fairness, he later turned out to be a decent guy having a really bad day.)

Getting desperate, I called the army press office and a senior Ministry of Information official. They reported back that the computer system had fried and the intricate network of automated doors wasn't working right. Technicians were on the way, but it would take a few more hours.

We waited more. What other choice did we have? 

If anything, the Gazans  were far more patient than the foreigners, who are less accustomed to having their movements restricted. There was a Russian journalist and an Austrian man growing increasingly indignant, and I wasn't handling things too gracefully either.

The Palestinians took it with stoicism and the occasional flash of humor.

"If they just sent in one clever Gazan, he'd have it fixed in 10 minutes," one guy told me. "If we can get our cars to run on cooking oil, we can fix their broken doors."

The majority of our group seemed to be medical-need cases and their families. I met a man who had been waiting three months to get his ailing mother to a Jerusalem hospital, and a woman whose infant daughter needed open-heart surgery. One young boy of about 6 seemed to have both physical and mental defects and sported a fresh hospital bracelet on his wrist.

Around 5 p.m., we all received the green light. We hurried across 200 yards of battle-scarred no-man's land, through concrete-walled corridors.  Finally the whole group came to a set of automated doors, where they left us for another 90 minutes with no communications.

Then the doors opened and another mad rush ensued into the mechanized maze of the now-functional inspection terminal.

I emerged on the Israeli side after 7 p.m., almost nine hours after I arrived. Some of the group, especially the medical cases, had been there since 7 a.m.

I was almost too tired and disoriented to be angry, but decided to hold off and calm down for a few days before writing about the experience.

I'm now in Chicago on a break, with the chance to evaluate things in hindsight. And I still have an issue with the way the Israelis handled things.

The problems were real; it's not like they were making up the computer malfunction.
But the decisions made after that  speak volumes about the way Israel views and deals with Gazans.

We were perhaps 45 people, including at least 15 children. Not exactly a huge logistical problem to inspect our bodies and our bags; that'€™s one hour in the life of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport and every other airport in the world.

If the Israelis had sent five soldiers out to pat us down, question us and search our bags, the whole process would have been wrapped up by 1 p.m. at the latest.

Instead they chose to let us cook while the technicians tinkered away.

It'€™s simply not something you would do to people you regarded as people instead of dangerous animals.

Comments

[Shireen]

The one instance at the Eretz checkpoint does sum things up quite a bit about the Palestinian experience in occupied territories. The experience of journalist Ashraf Khalil was one about excessive abuse of force with expensive-prying equipment to violate one’s property and privacy, dehumanizing isolation and restriction of movement. It is confounding how the world can discuss the human rights violations that are occurring in China, yet not mention what is happening to Palestinians because it is a so-called matter of security. It is a long known fact that Israel has been breaching international law. No the international community should no longer permit double-standards, or in the infamous words of Dr. King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

[dave london]

Main terrorist attacks carried out at Gaza Strip crossings
4 Jun 2008

Nov 23, 2000 - Sgt. Samar Hussein, 19, of Hurfeish, was killed when Palestinian snipers opened fire at soldiers patrolling the border fence near the Erez Crossing.

Dec 28, 2000 - Capt. Gad Marasha, 30, of Kiryat Arba and Border Police Sgt.-Maj. Yonatan Vermullen, 29, of Ben-Shemen, were killed when called to dismantle a road-side bomb near the Sufa Crossing in the Gaza Strip. The bomb was dismantled, but another bomb exploded, killing both and wounding two other soldiers. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Nov 26, 2001 - A Palestinian suicide bomber killed himself and lightly wounded two Border Policemen at the Erez Crossing point in the Gaza Strip. The bomber joined workers waiting to be cleared for entry into Israel. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Apr 12, 2002 - Border policeman St.-Sgt. David Smirnoff, 22, of Ashdod was killed when a Palestinian gunman opened fire near the Erez Crossing, in the Gaza Strip, killing one and injuring another four Israelis. The terrorist killed one and injured three Palestinian workers in the same shooting spree. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Apr 20, 2002 - Border Policeman St.-Sgt. Uriel Bar-Maimon, 21 of Ashkelon was killed in an exchange of fire near the Erez industrial park in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces pursued the Palestinian gunman and killed him. An explosive belt was found on his body. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility.

Apr 15, 2003 - Zachar Rahamin Hanukayev, 39, of Sderot and Ahmed Salah Kara, 20, of Shuafat in northern Jerusalem were killed and four Israelis were wounded when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at the Karni industrial zone crossing in the Gaza Strip. The gunman was killed by security personnel. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

June 8, 2003 - Four IDF soldiers were killed and four reserve soldiers were wounded when Palestinian terrorists wearing IDF uniforms opened fire on an IDF outpost near the Erez checkpoint and industrial zone in the Gaza Strip. Three terrorists were killed by IDF soldiers. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement claiming responsibility for the attack.

Jan 14, 2004 - Four Israelis - three soldiers and one civilian - were killed and 10 wounded when a female suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip, at the workers crossing terminal in the Erez industrial zone, where magnetic entering cards are issued. Hamas and the Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack. The terminal was severely damaged, and needed to be rebuilt. As a result, Palestinians were not able to enter the industrial zone for several days.

Feb 26, 2004 - Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Amir Zimmerman, 25, of Kfar Monash was killed and two other soldiers wounded when two Palestinian terrorists opened fire near the Erez Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The terrorists were killed by IDF forces. The Fatah Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

In March 2004, four terrorists traveling in three vehicles (two of which were rigged with explosives) attempted to kill Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers at the Erez Crossing.

Mar 6, 2004 - Two Palestinian policemen were killed when four terrorists traveling in three vehicles rigged with explosives, including jeeps camouflaged as IDF vehicles attempted to kill Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers at the Erez Crossing. Two of the vehicles exploded on the Palestinian side of the crossing, and four terrorists were killed. There were no IDF casualties. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the military wing of Fatah all claimed responsibility.

Mar 14, 2004 - Ten people were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. The terrorists infiltrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip via the Karni Crossing while hidden in a double cell wall installed in a cargo container departing the Gaza Strip to Israel. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

Apr 17, 2004 - Border Policeman Sgt. Kfir Ohayon, 20, of Eilat was killed, three others wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the Erez Crossing. Hamas and Fatah claimed joint responsibility for the attack.

In two different incidents, in April 2004 and May 2004, an explosive belt hidden in a consignment of clothes departing the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, was uncovered during the security checks. The belt did not contain metal parts in order to avoid the security checks.

In July 2004, a Palestinian worker who tried to smuggle six hand grenades hidden in a jug with pickles was stopped in the Tufah Crossing, used by Palestinian workers on their way to work in Gush Katif.

In August 2004, a Palestinian terrorist wearing explosive underwear was arrested at the Erez Crossing.

Sept 2004 - A female terrorist sent by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades infrastructure in the Gaza Strip to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel was arrested after entering Israel for medical treatment in an Israeli hospital.

Dec 7, 2004 - St.-Sgt. Nadav Kudinsky, 20, of Kiryat Gat of the Oketz canine unit was killed by a bomb, along with his dog, when a booby-trapped chicken coup exploded northwest of the Karni Corssing in the Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire while evacuating him. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dec 12, 2004 - Five IDF soldiers were killed and five wounded in a combined explosives tunnel and gunmen attack on an IDF post located near the Rafah terminal post, followed by the infiltration of the post by two terrorists who opened fire and activated another explosive device. Hamas and the Fatah Hawks claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dec 20, 2004 - A Hamas member who entered Israel through the Erez Crossing using medical documents was arrested; he planned carry out a suicide bombing.

Jan 5, 2005 - A Palestinian gunman infiltrated Erez via the Palestinian tunnel that leads to the Israeli terminal, activated an explosive device that created a hole in the tunnel's wall and entered the courtyard connecting the Israeli and Palestinian posts. The gunman was killed in exchanges of fire that took place at the scene.The Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

Jan 13, 2005 - Six Israeli civilians were murdered and five Israeli civilians were wounded in a combined terrorist attack carried out in the compound of the Karni Crossing. Three terrorists infiltrated into the compound via a hole which was created in a wall after the terrorists activated an explosive device which was placed next to a door at the Palestinian side of the crossing. The civilians were killed as result of the explosion, and after the terrorists hurled grenades and opened fire at the civilians working at Karni. Hamas and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed joint responsiblity for the attack.

In January 2005, a terrorist attack was thwarted in the community of Ganei Tal in Gush Katif, after a Palestinian gunman infiltrated the greenhouses of the community via the area of the Tufah Crossing used by Palestinian workers on their way to work in Gush Katif.

Jun 20, 2005 - 21-year-old Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Biss was arrested at the Erez Crossing, after attempting to smuggle an explosives belt through the crossing with the intent of carrying out a suicide bombing attack.

Sept 28, 2006 - A member of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) who had received an entry permit into Israel on humanitarian grounds was arrested at the Erez Crossing. He received the permit due to medical problems and planned to use it to establish terrorist cells in the West Bank.

May 30, 2007 - Two female suicide bombers at the Erez Crossing who received authentic entry permits into Israel using false medical information were arrested. They planned to carry out a double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and in Netanya.

Apr 9, 2008 - Oleg Lipson, 37, and Lev Cherniak, 53, both of Beersheba, were killed when Palestinian terrorists, after firing a salvo of mortars at the Nahal Oz area, penetrated the fuel terminal and opened fire on the civilian employees.

Apr 16, 2008 - Three IDF soldiers - two from the Givati Brigade and one tracker (Sgt. Menhash al-Banyat, Sgt. Matan Ovdati, Sgt. David Papian) - were killed in a confrontation with armed Palestinian gunmen approaching the Gaza security fence south of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. Three other soldiers were wounded.

Apr 17, 2008 - An IDF force thwarted an attempt by three Palestinian gunmen to infiltrate Israel near the Kerem Shalom border. The Nahal Oz fuel terminal was forced to close again after Palestinian snipers fired at the terminal.

Apr 19, 2008 - Suicide bombing attack: Three explosive-laden vehicles, two disguised as military jeeps and an armored vehicle, approached under heavy morning fog the Kerem Shalom central crossing for supplies through which approximately 200 humanitarian aid trucks enter per week. Terrorists triggered the explosives in the two jeeps, wounding 13 IDF soldiers. Four terrorists were killed in the incident; their attempts to detonate the third vehicle foiled. The bombing attack was combined with a barrage of 15 mortar shells fired at the area.

Apr 28, 2008 - Two mortar bombs land on the Kerem Shalom Crossing

May 4, 2008 - A mortar bomb lands on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal

May 5, 2008 - Two mortar bombs land on the Karni Crossing and one on the Erez Crossing

May 6, 2008 - A mortar bomb lands on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal

May 22, 2008 - A Palestinian bomber blew up an explosives-laden truck on the Palestinian side of the Erez Crossing on the Israel-Gaza Strip border early Thursday morning. The driver was the only casualty in the attempted attack. As the truck approached the border, other terrorists fired mortar shells at the crossing. The explosion ripped a hole in a pedestrian passageway leading out of the Erez terminal and into Gaza, which was empty because of the early hour (6:45 am). Shortly after the explosion, an IAF helicopter fired a missile at a nearby jeep which was accompanying the exploding truck, killing one of the terrorists who apparently planned to use the jeep to kidnap soldiers or to penetrate across the border after the explosion. The Erez Crossing was closed until the damage was repaired.

June 4, 2008 - Palestinians fired mortars at the Nahal Oz fuel depot, forcing the early cessation of pumping of fuel and gas to Gaza. A Palestinian worker critically wounded was transfered to Israel for treatment.

[trustee]

Lyn McKuen; I suggest you revisit a clearer understanding of The Balfour Declaration, The history of the demographics of the region, where the indigenous people resided and truly came from, what brought them back, why they are refused quarter in their fellow Arab nation states from which they came, their lack of educational enlightenment due to their poor social structure emblazoned in militancy, bitterness, self-perpetuated despair, a lack of self-reliance, and emblazoned perpetuating religious extremism. You are a sympithizer with ignorant premises. You sicken me and foul the heads of the uninformed with your disgusting logic. I laugh and pity you at the same time! Long live Israel and all Jews on the globe!!!!

[Galilite]

Ashraf,

Of course it's bad. Of course no one deserves it.

But logically: do you expect inhabitants of a territory where the governing authority is officially at war with the country, pleaded to kidnap the soldiers (those that should have come out, in your opinion) and made repeated attempts to attack the terminal, do you expect these inhabitants to simply come in?

Please read Victor Williams's comment. Very enlightening personal experience, too.

[Lyn McKuen]

Only of these posts acknowledging Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians that was the root of most of the subsequent violence. One or two calling Palestinians "animals"

So Israel was founded by deliberate murder of innocent civilians on a mass scale. Its founders didn't regard those they slaughtered as human beings. The Israelis that rule the Gazans have never regarded Palestinians as fully human. Some who post here don't regard Palestinians as fully human. I guess that such dehumanization makes it easier to kill them. Israeli religious extremism, which has killed far more innocent people than all the Palestinian terrorism, is encouraged and justified.

Don't think I don't understand the fear Israelis live under. If you steal someone's farms and orchards, if you drive them from their homes at gunpoint and then claim it's yours, if you systematically torture, arrest without trial, beat and humiliate a whole people, you should fear the reaction just as slaveholders of old feared slave uprisings and whipped and chained their slaves into submission. But why claim you have the moral right to do so?

[gary]

Ashraf,

Do you have any Israeli friends who are not against the idea of Israel as a democratic state with a Jewish character?

[mark]

Israel has stolen Palestinian land, so they will never be in peace. If someone took my home, they will never live in peace.

[jh749]

You think you had problems entering Israel from Gaza? Try entering Saudi Arabia or any of the Gulf States with an Israeli visa stamp in your passport.

[dm60462]

“…There was a Russian journalist and an Austrian man…” Hmm, Palestinians, Russians, Austrians. What’s the common thread there? Could it be Palestinians’, Russia’s and Austria’s lengthy track record of compassion toward Jews? “…It’s simply not something you would do to people you regarded as people instead of dangerous animals…” But suicide bombs, missiles fired on homes in Sderot, and front end loaders overturning busses are?

[Ed]

The Eretz border crossing has been repeatedly attack by Palestinians from inside Gaza. It is the failure of so-called journalists like Ashraf Khalil to speak honestly that allows the Palestinian government in Gaza to continue to abuse its citizens. As long as Khalil is willing to blame Israel, the human rights abuses of Hamas will continue.

Of course the Israelis regard Palestinians coming in from Gaza as "dangerous animals"---as well they should considering the atrocities perpetrated in Israel by Palestinians admitted for medical care and other for other humanitarian reasons.

Ashraf Khalil has much to be ashamed of. What is the matter with this guy? Is he blind to the minimal requirements of moral decency?

[ron]

your people:

It's comments like that which make checkpoints necessary.

[angryrat]

I like this disclaimer:
"If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate."

Apparently, many are still in the mental development stage of a 13 years old, and see things in black and white. (White being themselves, of course.)
The reason for Palestinian terrorism is NOT religious fundamentalism, or some other far-removed thing. It's the simple fact that they don't see any other way to fight a foe that brutalizes them. It's not a good way, in fact, it is a very bad one, but you can understand their despair. Those people who blame them, the victim, for their misery, should go back one step, and think about why there are IDF soldiers and settlers in the occupied territories in the first place? Why are there millions of Palestinians living as refugees for decades?

[Mamba1-0]

The palis have absolutely no right at all to waltz freely into Israel unhindered. The Israelis have every right to take whatever steps they feel are necessary to protect themselves from homicide bombers.
When the "palestinians" prove beyond doubt that they are able to conduct themselves as human beings and not as deranged animals, then perhaps they can be allowed to take full advantage of the Israelis' good nature. Until then, they will just have to put up with what they have brought on themselves by acting as uncivilized savages.
BTW: why is it, exactly, that the palis have not managed to spend a little of the billions of dollars of aid that they have received (most of which has gone for weapons and/or been stolen by their leaders) to build a couple of hospitals for their people? Or even, for that matter, to erect a working sewage system? Perhaps it's time for the palis to grow up and join the civilized world in the 21st Century.

[Craftluv45]

C'mon.. you're all wrong! The guy was complaining about a lack of technical functioning of the darned doors and the results on those waiting, and you all get het up and political about it, exchanging prejudices.

So, go over people with a wand, undress the pregnant women in a private space, or they don't go across if they don't consent... manual checks would have been more compassionate.. I'd have stripped to the buff and let a wand over me rather than sit in a hot space for 9 hours! Seems cops world over have a hard job, but definitely are not brain surgeons. Let's have a little creativity here!

[David]

You should try to enter Gaza from Egypt and THEN come back and complain about the Israelis and their border crossings.

[Carmella]

Oh. my. The whining. The victimhood. Oh the humanity. Were it up to me, I would have never let you IN Israel after the seven hours was up simply because you LOOK, SOUND and ACT like the people who were responsible for blowing up the pizza shop in Jerusalem and killing the little high school girls and others eating a pizza and hanging out with friends. Get over yourself. Stay strong, Israel.

[A reader]

Wha'ts more "humiliating" to the Palestinian people? Israeli checkpoints? Or the failure of their leaders to take advantage of the offer at camp david and taba?

What's more humiliating? Israeli checkpoints? Or the factional fighting in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Fatah?

Come on, get real.

[Elric66]

Well when you are at war with someone, expect your movements to be restricted. They are lucky Israel is this compassionate to a people bent on killing them. If it were me, Id seal off Gaza and let the Palis fend for themselves.

[BK]

After being there for 9 hours. don't you know that the place is Erez, not Eretz. What kind of fact-checking goes on there?

[George]

DL: Your post was completely selfish. Not a word about how the Palestinians forced into Gaza had their land stolen from them in 1947-48, how they were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland through a highly-organized campaign of mass terror, how they are bombed by the Israeli Air Force, how they are treated like animals by their Israeli captors, how they are demonized by Israel, how they are denied the most basic human rights...I'll stop here for brevity's sake.

You should try living like a Palestinian. Walk a mile in their shoes.

[trustee]

I will make no excuses for the inconveniences you suffered. I am an American, retired marine officer, Jew, and one who made Aliyah (still residing in California) some three years ago. We Jews while travelling through, socializing within, and commuting within Israel are inconvenienced by checkpoints... only as a consequence of extremist Israeli Arabs' and other fractured violent extremist groups' EXPLOSIVE actions of the past and present with TERROR. I am happy we have the checkpoints, in the face of inconvenience, to save our national treasure of life. You are suppose to report the news unbiased and not make the news... but I guess, you, as an Arab, think that America really simpathizes with you. BECOME peaceful in your actions as much as your prose (YOU ARE YET STILL MILITANT WITH YOUR PROSE EVEN!) and I am confident that one day you will see our DEFENSES loosen up. Otherwise suffer the consequences of inconvenience. Do you really think we like spending money on security as opposed to services such as education, healthcare, and many other needed infrastructure line items? Drop the chip pal! look towards being real and understanbd that we will not tolerate ANY Arab extremism!

[Dan]

Instead of moaning and groaning about how bad Israelis treat Palestinians maybe you should focus on how bad Palestinians treat other Palestinians. The problems are among Arabs and how you treat each other. No wonder Israelis try to protect themselves.

[Victor Williams]

Do remember that the checkpoint was built because terrorists would bring explosives to the previous checkpoint, trying to blow open a gate and kill as many Israelis as possible. Movements "restricted"? The Palestinians are free to move about Gaza - why do they have a "right" to move freely about in a foreign nation? A nation that provides free hospital care, as noted here? Why, with the billions in aid given to them in the past 20 years have they not built hospitals that can treat their own people? Even with these medical cases, we see pregnant women - in labor - bringing suicide bomb-belts to blow up the hospitals. That any nation would tolerate this, and still provide the humanitarian aid that they do, boggles the mind.

[Horst Kirchner]

I waited nearly 2 weeks at the Morocco-Algeria border once. It never did open while I was there; no explanation either. Had to go back to Spain and take a boat. In political and military disputes there is little respect for misery and none for delay. As between Hamas and Israel, worldview, thought process and conviction leave little if any room for dialog and probably no hope for compromise. I see little likelihood the situation will get better.

[Your people aren't always right!]

DL you obviously are not open minded and think the israelis have a right to treat people like dirt, have you ever thought that hamas was created to defend innocent people against the animals that are aka Israelis?!?!