wfn.org | Checkpoint Kalandia

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Note #7458 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

03-October-2002
02383

Checkpoint Kalandia

by Royal Orr

(Editor's note: This is the second story in a three-part series on the World
Council of Churches accompaniment program in Israel/Palestine. - Jerry L. Van
Marter)

JERUSALEM - The team from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (EAPPI) in
Palestine and Israel was gathered on a hill overlooking the Israeli
checkpoint on the road from Jerusalem to Ramallah. A young soldier patrolled
around a pillbox on a nearby hillside. In the distance, the Palestinian town
of Ramallah baked in the mid-afternoon sun. 

Marita Roos and Marit Jorgensen, experienced conflict observers from Sweden
and Denmark, were explaining to ecumenical accompaniers how to assess the
security of the situation. They were also giving pointers about what to
observe and what to record at checkpoints as part of a week of training for
EAPPI participants.

The checkpoint had two control points about half a kilometer apart. Several
rifle-carrying soldiers in helmets and flak jackets searched cars and checked
ID cards. An older commander stood bareheaded under the meager shade of an
Israeli flag that flapped in the hot breeze.  

One of the ecumenical accompaniers pointed towards Kalandia. An ambulance was
stopped at the far control point with its blue lights flashing. The team
began counting. After 20 minutes, the accompaniers made their way through the
pedestrian line-ups, waiting under camouflage netting until the soldiers
allowed them to cross through.

On the Kalandia side, Bernt Jonsson approached the ambulance driver, who
invited the accompaniers to meet the patients inside.

"The driver says that the soldiers told him that he had to have a permission
form in English to cross," explained Bernt. "His is only in Arabic. They're
waiting for permission from higher up." 				     
		    
Several members of the team went to the back of the van. A six-month-old girl
who had recently undergone surgery was inside with her mother and father.
They were attempting to get to a hospital in Jerusalem for a checkup. Another
man sat in the corner.

The doctor who accompanied the ambulance said that the man suffered from
mental illness, and that he was being transferred to a specialized facility.
With Marita's assistance, Bernt asked if it would help if the EAPPI team
spoke with the soldiers at the control point. The driver said that it might. 

"What can they do to make it worse?" added the father in frustration. "Shoot
us? That would just be normal."

Bernt and Marita went with Heidi Hansen and Anne-Lene Kjfldgaard, both
medical students, to speak to the Israeli soldiers. Another accompanier,
Brigitta Bvckmann, stood by the ambulance door in quiet conversation with the
mother of the sick child.

The waiting traffic stretched out of sight towards Ramallah. Alongside the
ambulance, two men were being forced to completely unload a moving van full
of carpets and furniture. 

The accompaniers talked with the young checkpoint guard for several minutes.

"The soldier says the problem isn't a permit," reported Marita when the small
delegation returned. "The man who they claim is mentally unstable has no
identity papers. They are refusing him entry, but are willing to let the
family through if he is left behind."

Bernt and Marita gave this information to the ambulance driver. 

The group then discussed how to proceed. Time is short for any activity in
the intensive week of training provided for the ecumenical accompaniers,
including this visit to Kalandia. But many of them felt responsible for the
people in the ambulance. Everyone was unsure if anything more could be done.

The EAPPI team decided to leave. The accompaniers went through the control
line and began the walk back to the Jerusalem side of the checkpoint. Their
path was lined with concrete barricades, razor wire and high metal fencing.

As the accompaniers talked quietly among themselves, a Mercedes limousine
festooned with white streamers and flowers passed by on its way to Ramallah.
Inside sat a slim young man in a tuxedo; his bride was at his side, veiled in
white.		

At the control point on the Jerusalem side, the next vehicle in the wedding
party convoy was stopped. It was a mini-bus filled with Palestinian women and
children who were singing and clapping praise for the newly-weds. An Israeli
soldier clapped her hands with them as she stepped back to let them pass. 

Frustration and hope. Afterward at a debriefing session in Jerusalem, the
group would explore the inevitable tensions of being an observer and an
accompanier in a conflict situation.

Royal Orr is a senior consultant with Columbia Communications in Canada and
president of the video production company N.E.X.T. Productions. He is also
the host of The United Church of Canada's national religious affairs program,
Spirit Connection. He was in Jerusalem in August 2002 to assist the local
EAPPI orientation.

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