This is the checkpoint of Huwwara, south of Nablus, which we observed on "Checkpoint Watch."
One day, the rule was the following: Women were allowed through the checkpoint; older men were allowed through, as were young boys. But any men between the ages of 15 and 40 weren’t... period. It didn’t matter where you were coming from; it didn’t matter where you were going; it didn’t matter who you were... If you were Palestinian, male, between 15 and 40 years of age, you couldn’t get home, or to school, or to the hospital, or wherever you were going. So they gathered here in this ditch below the checkpoint, hundreds of Palestinian men, in hopes that the rule would change at some point.
At one point I saw two of them go off to the side frantically picking up trash. I asked them what they were doing and they told me that the soldiers had actually given them the trash bags, saying that if they were able to fill up their bags with trash, then they would be allowed through the checkpoint.
One day, the rule was the following: Women were allowed through the checkpoint; older men were allowed through, as were young boys. But any men between the ages of 15 and 40 weren’t... period. It didn’t matter where you were coming from; it didn’t matter where you were going; it didn’t matter who you were... If you were Palestinian, male, between 15 and 40 years of age, you couldn’t get home, or to school, or to the hospital, or wherever you were going. So they gathered here in this ditch below the checkpoint, hundreds of Palestinian men, in hopes that the rule would change at some point.
At one point I saw two of them go off to the side frantically picking up trash. I asked them what they were doing and they told me that the soldiers had actually given them the trash bags, saying that if they were able to fill up their bags with trash, then they would be allowed through the checkpoint.
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