Op Ed: Unknown chemicals sprayed in Palestinian cars at checkpoints
Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2012 09:41
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php/top-stories/810-op-ed-unknown-chemicals-sprayed-in-palestinian-cars-at-checkpoints
Jenin checkpoint (photo: Abir Kopty)
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By Abir Kopty
Lately I've been going to Jenin every two or three weeks with family
members. We usually do our vegetable shopping in the city market.
Last Saturday, on our way back from Jenin to Nazareth, we were
surprised to find a new technology to check "suspicious" cars at the
Israeli checkpoint.
The checkpoint examination usually goes like this: There are about
six lines of cars going out through the checkpoint. At each line, there
are one or two "security" officers that ask for IDs, and decide whether
the car and its riders do or do not constitute a major threat to
Israel's "security" and "existence." If they do not, the officer gives
the car a white ticket, which means they are done with the "security"
check. If they do, then the car gets a green ticket. Once you get the
green one, you have to go to the far right line for a special check. You are
asked to open all doors, take out all your belongings and go
through a physical check while the car is separately searched.
You can't ever understand the logic and the considerations of any of
the checkpoint's officers. Sometimes our car gets the green ticket,
sometimes the white.
Last Saturday we got the green one. We went to the line that checks
the cars and we were surprised to see this strange little machine that
looks like a hospital's IV machine.
We were asked to roll up all windows, leave one centimeter of the two front
windows open, exit the car and go through the physical search. My brother and I
started asking questions about this machine and what it
does. The officers refused to answer.
According to Haaretz, this contraption is also used at a Bethlehem
checkpoint, and I assume in many of the "privatized" checkpoints, where
the state has outsourced the managing of the checkpoint to private
"security" companies in order to "civilianize" the checkpoints – another failed
attempt to whitewash the occupation.
The procedure is described by Haaretz as follows:
Two tubes are then connected to the vehicle – one is connected to an
air pump, the other, which passes through a tiny filter, is attached to
the vehicle. A policeman with a stopwatch flicks the air pump switch.
If you look at the pictures carefully you can see clearly a small box connected
to the tubes, filled with unknown contents, which are
believed to be, as international workers told Haaretz, "nausea-inducing
chemicals."
When we got back to the car, there was a slightly strange smell and
we felt a bit dizzy. We were not sure if we were imagining it, or if
something was sprayed into the car.I suggest that human rights organizations
take the initiative to
obtain a sample of the material being used, and examine it. I have a
very strong feeling it will include prohibited materials, tested on
Palestinians first, to then be marketed to the world as a new technology from
the "successful" Israeli military
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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