Tuesday, June 06, 2006
6/06/2006 02:47:00 AM | 
Posted by
JoeSettler
A friend sent me this letter he wrote this in response to the introduction of the Ghetto Stickers in Gush Etzion. A somewhat naïve Gush Etzion resident was apparently all for the stickers and wrote that he looks forward to beating the traffic with his new sticker.
If his letter doesn't make it clear, then here is the background information as described to me by another settler.
The government is building a major border crossing just past the tunnels, just like they did in the Shomron and the Jordan Valley.
Settlers will put ayellow blue patch sticker on their car indicating they are settlers and they will be told to go to the left (lane).
Those told to go the right (lane) will be asked to explain what they were doing in the territories and usually have their car checked– harassment exactly in line with Giladi’s plan to dry up the settlements.
The left line will probably move faster, less due to the lower level of harassment that will be newly introduced, but more likely as fewer non-residents will want to travel there due to the extra hassle.
“While you're busy smirking, ask some people that live in the Shomron who already have Ghetto Stickers and a Border Crossing about their daily experience.
They'll tell you that their friends don't like visiting them anymore because of the harassment they get at the Border Crossing, and I'm not talking about just showing their IDs and getting the trunk checked, but the cross-examination as to what they were even doing "over the border" in the first place.
They'll also tell you that despite having a Ghetto Sticker they also get stopped to show their IDs and get asked questions – particularly when other people are also in the car. So I would recommend you travel alone if you want your border crossing to go faster.
Some might tell you they feel more uncomfortable now that the Arabs can 100% identify them as Settlers (and therefore targets) as opposed to before we there was at least some minor degree of ambiguity.
But hey, don't let me wipe that smirk off your face.”
If his letter doesn't make it clear, then here is the background information as described to me by another settler.
The government is building a major border crossing just past the tunnels, just like they did in the Shomron and the Jordan Valley.
Settlers will put a
Those told to go the right (lane) will be asked to explain what they were doing in the territories and usually have their car checked– harassment exactly in line with Giladi’s plan to dry up the settlements.
The left line will probably move faster, less due to the lower level of harassment that will be newly introduced, but more likely as fewer non-residents will want to travel there due to the extra hassle.
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15 comments:
Where do you all find the strength and stamina to put up with this nonsense?
I only have the strength to scream aloud.....There is something very wrong here. It seems that just when you are getting used to some new trial and tribulation the government throws in another monkey wrench........
This HAS TO BE just before the coming of Moshiach. We are all being tested at the highest level......How else can you explain this delirium?
anonymously fatigued
I can see why the Gush guy thought it would ease his life, though. It depends on who you talk to--we've never had trouble or delay at machsomim when we use our sticker. (It's scotch taped to the windshield when we're pressed for time and in the glove compartment when we've got more time and gumption to protest.) If he'd talked to people like us, he would have thought the sticker a great thing.
Maybe we're just lucky--Machsom HaGush, HaChayalot, Tappuach--we breeze through with a "shmira ne'eima," Maybe it's just that we pass through in off hours. Truth is, we're more afraid of our car being vandalized in Tel Aviv if we leave the sticker up than anything else, at this point. (All our relatives live in the Shomron and no repair or service people come out this far anyway, so other day-to-day implications never rear their ugly heads for us.)
Joe:
Smirking Settler from Gush Etzion? These people are CLUELESS.
Let's describe the past month at Checkpoint Eliyahu.
Monday (5-June). 7:00 AM. IDF announces internally that a full scale "hatra'a" (terror threat) is in place, and the machsom is switching modes to lockdown. The IDF message includes the ominous: "ALL CARS WILL BE FULLY CHECKED".
This means, regardless of your smirking blue sticker, you wait in line for close to an hour just like everyone else. You get asked for your ID card, sometimes your car is physically checked as well.
This special treatment has been increasing over the past few months, as there are more and more terror threats, and the IDF can't keep up with them. The solution is...checking all cars, regardless of the "special smirking sticker" you.
And just wait till Olmert implements a special Efrat entrance to the Wall...then only Efrat residents will be able to enter, and not the rest of the Gush (this is currently the situation in the Shomron by Tzofim).
Regular (non-blue-smirking-sticker-clueless-Efrat-residents) Israelis who are unfortunate enough to want to visit Efrat will soon find themselves adding hours to their visiting time, and reduce any enthusiasm they may have had to go there in the first place.
What happened in Gaza (stickers for residents only) is on its way to a checkpoint near you.
And, who exactly are you smirking at to begin with?
Let me guess, you're one of those who still think Efrat is part of the national "consensus"...
Yes, why don't they just make us put a "STEAL THIS CAR" sign on our cars so that they can be stolen by the Arabs...(we've lived here in Israel for fifteen years and we've had two cars stolen in the pre-67 areas. Needless to say we don't have a sticker on our car and don't plan to...)
WBM: I actually printed up a sticker once that instead of having the name of our yishuv on it, it had the name of a nearby Arab village.
The soldiers at the checkpoint never seemed to notice :)
I personally found the inquisition by the soldier at checkpoint eliyahu - which I didn't have a sticker for - to be quite interesting.
after showing my id and opening my trunk, he asked what I was doing on the other side of the green line, and why my id is in an orange case. I explained that as resident of the more recently liberated parts of Israel I am treated as a second class citizen which is why he is busy asking me personal questions as to what my business was over the green line and that is why the cover is orange.
yesterday when trying to go over the green line after having been in kedumim the soldier asked me where I was coming from, after responding kedumim, he then asked me, "isn't that in chutz l'aretz"?
Someone forwarded this to me from one of the Gush lists:
"A while ago there was no or little Arab traffic on the road and it took about 10
minutes to get to Gilo. Now for some 'mysterious' reason the road is backed up
to Efrat North and beyond. So, we are being tempted with a 'little sticker' to
make our lives easier."
Another person mentioned to me that for the past month the soldier/police at the Gush checkpoint suddenly began creating artificial traffic jams by stopping traffic for no reason going both ways, and then releasing it a few minutes later, but without checking anybody or doing anything, just stopping the traffic.
That's certainly one way of creating incentive to put on an unwanted sticker for the "fast" lane.
He wrote me:
The point isn't the sticker. The sticker is the symptom.
The point is that they are officially turning the machsom into a border and we are now officially living in another country and crossing that border now requires ID, inspections, and interrogations.
They are basically making it unpleasant and unconducive for non-residents to visit us, cutting us off even further from the rest of the country.
Giving us a sticker is 'doing us a favor', which they will then notice or ignore at their convenience, just as they already do in the Shomron.
The magav games are part of forcing us to comply to their facts on the ground.
Gentlemen-
I have been reluctent to comment for fear of JS not accepting another opinion. But its important certain facts are explained.
FACT
There will be an international border crossing at the tunnels. Whether or not you put a sticker on your car.
FACT
There are long lines everyday to enter Jerusalem.
So, the Gush residents can heed the advice of the Army and put on a dinky sticker so "MAYBE" they will pass faster in new terminal....
OR
They can say that the army is out to screw them, (even if the army consits of settlers as well....)
and not use the sticker. But then take some munchies along for the wait.
Sod
SoD:
I can always accept another opinion, though not necessarily as fact. :)
FACT #1. Int'l border: I hope not (and I'm sure so do you), and I hope we all try to work against it.
FACT #2. Long lines: Certainly now there are long lines because that is what the government wants.
Statement #1. Feel free to write you opinions here, after all, you're a settler too. Just try not to express them so angrily! :)
Is the point of this post to complain about how people need to WAIT at checkpoints?
In that case I agree with first Anonymous- Moshiach must be on his way.
PS Bli Ayin Hara my car has been broken into once. In East Jerusalem.
tafka pp: There's a difference when the people in question not only citizens and but also clearly don't fit into the profile of potential terrorists, terrorist/weapon smugglers or their supporters - but as our resident leftist I take into account you disability to differentiate in these matters, so don't worry about it. :)
By the way, Mashiach is coming (I'm almost ready to make my announcement) - it's just a matter of waiting impatiently.
I think we are all getting a bit paranoid about our journeys. Of course the Israeli government today can't be trusted to treat the "settlers" fairly, but our army often catches terrorists and infiltrators in this way as we all know, and at Ma'avar Eliahu (nr Kalkilya) I have seem the police actually catch car thieves trying to leave coastal Israel.
Resident of Karnei Shomron
*sigh* Exactly what you would expect of a resident of Karnei Shomron...extolling the virtues of the "wall" because it caught some car thieves, instead of looking at the big picture and how damaging the wall is to everyone.
Hey Karnei Shomron -- if the wall encompasses you, then you'll become just as laid back as Alfei Menashe..and totally devoid of any ideaology. Wake Up!
It's not just about "you."
*sigh*
The funny thing is, if that Karnei Shomron resident had gone through Checkpoint Eliyahu yesterday between certain hour, he/she would have found his car being searched - sticker and all, because of the lock-down order which applied to everyone - stickered cars too.
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