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Candy at the checkpoint By Amira Hass Tags: West Bank, Israel, Amira Hass  Click here for more articles by Amira Hass It's noon on Thursday and Khaled, a lawyer, noticed immediately: The older soldier checking IDs at the Za'atra checkpoing - south of Nablus - is being nice to people. The soldier looked inside the car, saw the three children, smiled and gave them candy. Khaled's first impulse was to refuse the sweets. Later he decided to give the soldier a break and not explain that the candy and the politeness do not alter the reality: this checkpoint, at the foothill of the sprawling settlement of Tapuah, is part of the whole complex of fences along roads, obstacles in side roads and dislocation of villages from their land and often isolating Palestinians living in the northern West Bank from the south. Advertisement The checkpoints in the West Bank are the focus of attention in Israel, especially when the army or the defense minister promises to lift a few. Indeed, compared to 2002 and 2004, the number of checkpoints has shrunk, but only after Israel achieved its objective: enforcing a separate system of transportation - the best quality roads for the Jews and the settlements, and the worst kind for the Palestinians. As construction of the separate road network, the separation fence and the checkpoints (the large land bandits) is nearing completion, it is possible to lift a few checkpoints. It is not the amount that counts but Israel's success in shrinking the number of exits from every Palestinian district and redirecting Palestinian traffic to the few roads linking each enclave. Guaranteed "free" movement is diverted away from the Jewish territorial contiguity created in the occupied West Bank over the past 17 years. Saturday, three in the afternoon. Several hundred people are crowding at the Hawara checkpoint on their way out of Nablus. The rate of crossing is one person every three minutes. Estimated waiting time is at least two hours. People are standing in the heat, most of them quiet but angry. Some whisper a prayer, others sigh. As always it seems that when the pressure is on, the soldiers move even slower. The endless talk about "lifting checkpoints" makes redundant for most media and their consumers the debate over the role of the checkpoints. The stubborn work of Machsom Watch is sometimes effective, and occasionally one especially brutal confrontation with an Israel Defense Forces soldier is covered in the daily newspapers. But the routine of the checkpoints, which robs from the Palestinians hundreds of thousand of hours of life and energy every day, completely evades the Israeli media. This loss of time is a much more effective weapon than any artillery shell in draining the Palestinian people, until they agree to a solution of an enclave-state. Saturday night, the Hawara checkpoint is closed. Nablus is under quarantine until the morning. But one car leaves Nablus for Ramallah, carrying senior Palestinian Authority officials, after they coordinated this with the IDF. The VIP passengers in the vehicle are returning from a special dinner. Leaving Nablus at night is a luxury that ordinary people do without. The leaders, who represent a ruling class that is party to the negotiations for an enclave-state, are happy to receive the candy that Israel distributes to them and still do not comprehend why their people despise them. It is Saturday morning at the Beit El checkpoint for VIPs (PA senior officials, employees of international organizations, Israeli and foreign journalists). The young soldier chastises an Israeli journalist: "It is really unfortunate, the things that a Jewish woman does on the Sabbath in Ramallah, on the other side." His cheek and paternalistic tone draw a response: "It is unfortunate that a young person like you is standing here, defending the occupation." As expected the soldier is not convinced: "I am not defending the occupation. I am defending Beit El." "Precisely, you are defending the excessive privileges of Jews." "No," he responds, "My father fought in the war of independence. Serving here, I carry on what he started." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Disturbing trend Jewish Agency says Anti-Semitic acts in Jan. 2009 triple last year's records. After the war IDF gains in Gaza have softened Israel's stance on Shalit deal.   1.   AMIRA CAN YOU GET SOME FRESH ARTICLES ? 10:39  |  PAUL HARRIS 06/09/07   2.   AMIRA NEEDS A REST 11:07  |  indrajaya 06/09/07   3.   Get Real Amira 11:12  |  Steve 06/09/07   4.   Paul - you need a reality check 11:17  |  Kim 06/09/07   5.   Time for some tough love, but nobody to apply it 11:36  |  Natallie Durson 06/09/07   6.   #4 GET REAL KIM AND LEARN HISTORY 11:48  |  PAUL HARRIS 06/09/07   7.   "W. Bank roadblocks are more effective than shells": How true! 12:01  |  Amelia Andersen 06/09/07   8.   Delusional leftists demonstrate symptoms of the Oslo syndrome: 13:20  |  Uzi 06/09/07   9.   Kim ##4 13:23  |  Jo Jo 06/09/07   10.   Amira, Checkpoints or blown up buses. What do you prefer? 13:48  |  Ken Jurist 06/09/07   11.   That`s What Happens When You Support Terrorists 13:48  |  Jane 06/09/07   12.   Paul 13:49  |  Mike 06/09/07   13.   re: #2 and thankyou amira 14:11  |  robin 06/09/07   14.   Amira Hass: The beggers will curse you one day. 14:37  |  Akram Zekaria 06/09/07   15.   Everyone urge Amira Hass to blow herself up in her home 15:22  |  John Ryan 06/09/07   16.   Would have been easier to stop the bombers 15:26  |  The Barber 06/09/07   17.   As usual, Natallie `scumbag` Durson distorts reality 15:30  |  John Ryan 06/09/07   18.   Kim: Melbourne`s answer to Kath? 16:05  |  pro bono publico 06/09/07   19.   #2 Indrajaya, Re Relief 16:05  |  Dutch 06/09/07   20.   Amira, Too Much Emotion Can Lead To Blindness 16:07  |  Tony Anthony 06/09/07   21.   Sderot, Not The Same Tired Reporting, Matters 16:11  |  Yoram 06/09/07   22.   Kim #4 16:13  |  Jason, Ph.D. 06/09/07   23.   No planes get bombed in Australia 16:17  |  Carlos Murphy 06/09/07   24.   Dutch: silly response 16:23  |  French 06/09/07   25.   #5 Nat, sweetie, the only addiction 16:26  |  Sandra 06/09/07   26.   Question for Natalie and Indrajaya 16:28  |  Jason, Ph.D. 06/09/07   27.   God Bless you Amira 16:45  |  Anis 06/09/07   28.   PA Officials should tear up VIP passes 23:14  |  BIG 06/09/07   29.   #14 Akram Zekaria, Your comments fail to seperate things out 04:40  |  Dutch 08/09/07

Read & React Livni: Israel should strike Hamas again to halt arms smuggling Responses: 44 Amir Oren: 'Decisive' Gaza offensive merely rehearsal for next crisis versus Iran Responses: 8 Netanyahu: Likud-led government wouldn't build new settlements Responses: 36 Akiva Eldar: Saudi plan offers Israel united front with Arab states against Iran Responses: 10 More Headlines 13:40 Livni: Obama can use Gaza op success to alter Mideast reality 11:52 Egypt to Hamas: Take Gaza truce before Netanyahu is PM 12:30 Veteran ultra-Orthodox MK Avraham Ravitz dies aged 75 11:24 Iran MPs plan Gaza visit to praise Hamas resistance against 'Zionist offensive' 12:54 Sky News joins BBC in refusing to air Gaza fundraiser 13:16 Lecturers say IDF officer who justified Gaza strikes should not teach law 10:14 Nine held for allegedly attacking Israeli Arabs in Upper Nazareth 10:36 Netanyahu: Likud-led coalition wouldn't build new settlements 13:17 IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel 12:12 Survey: Most Israelis want Benjamin Netanyahu to be prime minister 10:35 Haaretz probe: Unknown overseas sources paid MK Lieberman NIS 2.5m 10:51 2 hurt, 1 seriously, after light plane crashes near Beit She`an 04:42 EU presses Egypt to take action against Gaza arms smuggling 11:27 Number of laid-off Israelis set new high in December 07:41 U.S. businessman Guma L. Aguiar gives $8m to Nefesh b'Nefesh 07:43 Program launched to bring all Jewish teachers worldwide to Israel 04:43 Court to state: Let foreign media into Gaza when borders open Previous Editions Select Day 25 jan 23 jan 22 jan 21 jan 20 jan 19 jan 18 jan 16 jan 15 jan 14 jan 13 jan 12 jan

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