March 10, 2003

Roadblocks in Beit Sahour

[Bethlehem, West Bank] Roadblocks galore! Saturday my friend Elizabeth and I were going to picnic with Saliman and his family at Mar Saba, a monastery about halfway between Bethlehem and Jericho. On the way we were stopped in Beit Sahour by Israeli jeeps. Soldiers had stopped traffic so a bulldozer could set up a roadblock. I approached the site and took a few photos. A stream of water was spraying where the bulldozer had severed a water line.

I took a few more photos as a young soldier asked me for my media credentials. I offered my Virginia driver's license. The solder glanced at it and said it would be OK -- except that it was a Virginia driver's license and not valid media credentials. (Oh, so you wanted real documents. Very sorry.) I offered my Bethlehem Bible College library card instead. That wasn't sufficient either. I didn't give up. My American Express card was rejected. My Stirling and Stirling insurance card was denied. Even my Jerusalem Zaatarah Tourist and Travel Agency business card wasn't good enough for this fellow. He suggested that maybe I wasn't officially with any media organization. And since I wasn't, Israeli military policy said that he should confiscate my camera.

I tried to throw him off guard by pointing out that there was a stream of water spraying nearby. I told him that certainly both Israelis and Palestinians knew the value of water in this region. I said that breaking this water pipe was a terrible waste. He agreed with me. He said that he already called someone to repair it. And then he reminded me that I should hand over my camera. And this I was reluctant to do. He wanted my camera, and I didn't want to part with it. And thus we reached an impasse.

My camera goes with me everywhere. I use it to document these daily Geneva Convention or human rights violations. I use it to take photos of old men in quaffias or cute kids asking for shekels. I use it to take photos of JZ shooting pool or George smoking argila. Or I might use it to photo Israeli soldiers setting up roadblocks in Beit Sahour. Whatever the subject, I like my camera, and I want to hang onto it as long as I can.

He asked me again for my camera, and I thought that just wouldn't do. So the soldier offered me an alternative. I could turn over my memory card instead. I had heard of clever people from the Christian Peacemaker Team who turned over extra blank memory cards, but I was pretty sure that this guy would notice me reaching into my camera bag, fumbling with two zippers, unclipping a snap, opening the little plastic memory card holder, and turning that card over to him instead. So no, I didn't want to turn over my memory card either.

The soldier thought I was being unreasonable as the bulldozer continued piling large mounds of dirt across the road and the water continued to spray through the air. So I offered to negotiate. That's what civilized people do, right? We discuss alternatives. "What other options do I have?" "You can delete all your photos." This made more sense to me. So he stood over my shoulder and watched as I deleted several photos. (Note: These photos are not available for your viewing. They showed close-ups of an Israeli bulldozer piling dirt across a Palestinian road in Beit Sahour.) I deleted a few more, and finally he was satisfied that I had deleted all of the (evidently incriminating) photos.

After I was able to leave I returned to ask him how long this particular roadblock injustice was going to take. He said no more than five minutes. And he was a man of his word. This particular injustice was finished in five minutes. And then the jeeps and bulldozer moved to the next road and they blocked it. And then they moved to the next road and they blocked it. And then there was a tiny cement path leading from a Palestinian home to the road and they destroyed it. When they tired of blocking roads and destroying pedestrian footpaths, they let us pass.

Closing a road in Beit Sahour.

Water sprays while the bulldozer piles more dirt.

Hey, what happened to the rest of my cement walk? Sorry man, but your footpath was a threat to the security of Israel.

(Note: If someone really wants to help me, they can send me a media badge or something similar. This problem of me taking photos and not having proper media credentials has popped up several times. Make it look official. Give it an expiration date of 2007. Put a couple of stamps on it. Get a seal of approval or a hologram or a color bar-code. Maybe the Pope or the President or Ted Turner could sign it. Thanks.)