This is the checkpoint of Huwwara, south of Nablus, where the International Women's Peace Service did "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 did not matter where someone in that age range was coming from; it didn’t matter where he was going; it didn’t matter who he was. If he was Palestinian, male, between 15 and 40 years of age, he could not get home, or to school, or to the hospital, or wherever he was going. So hundreds of Palestinian men gathered in a ditch below the checkpoint, 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 did not matter where someone in that age range was coming from; it didn’t matter where he was going; it didn’t matter who he was. If he was Palestinian, male, between 15 and 40 years of age, he could not get home, or to school, or to the hospital, or wherever he was going. So hundreds of Palestinian men gathered in a ditch below the checkpoint, 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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