I was at the Attil agricultural gate this morning at 5.30 am. Farmers have to go through this gate to get to their fields, which are trapped behind the Israeli separation barrier.
Today, progress was very slow at the gate – so slow that at closing time there were still eight men waiting to go through. The Israeli soldiers said that they were going to close the gate, and the men would have to wait until it opened again at 1.00 pm.
I intervened. I told the soldiers that these men had arrived in good time and it was not right to refuse them entry. The soldiers said that they (the soldiers) had to get to another gate to open it and they would be late if they stayed here. I said OK, so just let these men through. Now the soldiers claimed that they didn’t speak English. I replied that yes they DID speak English and that they knew that what they were doing was not right. They still refused.
Then I very deliberately got out my mobile phone and made a call while the soldiers watched. I rang the Red Cross to report what was happening.
After finishing the call I repeated to the soldiers that they knew that it was not right to refuse entry to these men. I’m afraid I was pretty angry by now, and it showed. (I hope the soldiers won’t take it out on the Palestinian farmers later.)
Then to my amazement, the soldiers relented and allowed the men to go through – still one by one, but much more quickly than earlier. In the end they all went through. The gate closed 15 minutes late.
Interestingly, my colleague was at the other gate to which the soldiers went next. She told me that, not only did it open almost on time, but the soldiers allowed the farmers through more quickly than usual.
A small difference for a few people. But it was good!