People from the Tamun-Tubas, Beit Furik area pass through the Hamra [Beka'ot] checkpoint on their way to the [Jordan] Valley. Anyone on his way to the Allenby [border crossing] from Nablus passes through there, unless he goes through the Tapuah or Ma'ale Efraim checkpoints.

Did you check their IDs? Permits, IDs and they can pass. These are people who work in agriculture in the [Jordan] Valley, and many who have to reach [the] Allenby [border crossing], or who live on either side of the checkpoint.

And what do you do with those who don't have permits to cross the checkpoint? We turn them away. It was strange, because the checkpoint was in an area with many undefined villages, ruins [of villages] of sorts; it could be written on someone's ID that he lives in Tubas, but it’s not Tubas because it’s Khirbet Tubas. He wants to cross over to the other side of the checkpoint because he lives there. You don't let him enter, you tell him to bring a permit, but he doesn't have one because it's written that he lives in Tubas. At a certain point you get to know the people so you allow some of them to pass, and that also depends on your good will, your decision as to how crazy you want to drive him.

It’s possible for a person to live on the other side and… And he comes from the direction of Tubas and you tell him that it’s written on his ID that he lives in Tubas, and he [actually] lives in Khirbet Tubas, and then comes all the regular idling at the checkpoint.

So you're saying that it depends on what side of the bed you, as a soldier, woke up that morning? Yes.

Were there many instances of people without permits? Yes, the road from the Aryeh base area, where the brigade is stationed, I believe they closed it at a certain point, it's a road that leads to these villages, a road along which many people live, a house here and a house there. They don't live in a defined location, because at some point, the Civil Administration divided them according to districts or areas. It's a stupid checkpoint. Whoever really wants to pass through but doesn't have a permit, just goes through the nearby wadi. Sometimes we would try to preempt and would go to the wadi to try and catch them, but it was senseless.

Are there situations in which people are detained? Yes, like everywhere else. If someone bothers you too much, you dry him out at the checkpoint.

What does "bothering you" mean? There was one case that seemed a bit absurd. There was this old man who wasn't allowed to pass even though everyone knew that he lived on the other side of the checkpoint. He asked to pass again and again and then they took his ID and told him he was detained. They detained him for a few hours.

Until someone decided it was enough? Yes. There was another case, I arrived one morning and a bus passed by full of girls from the [Jordan] Valley  area who studied in the villages inside. The girls need to get off the bus; a soldier gets on the bus, searches it, and then they get back on. One day I saw them standing in rows of three, and I asked what happened. I was told that the morning before the commander was there and he taught them to stand in rows of three and shout "attention, sir." Little girls. The next morning they already came and stood that way on their own. n