Translated by, Sad Bannoura, IMEMC
The bad health condition of an old lady held on the checkpoint along with hundreds of residents, wasn’t enough to let her pass through Al-Hamra checkpoint, on the entrance of Beit Eeba, near Tubas.
This checkpoint became a breeding source of humiliation, military violence and oppression, yet… a source of “Slow Deathâ€Â
The woman, who chose not to identify herself, had a flue, fever, and dizziness, she wasn’t able to breath
“I felt that it was time for me to die, it was it like my last moment in this worldâ€Â, she said.
She screamed loud, as loud as she could, “are your heartless, let us goâ€Â, the soldiers laughed also loud enough, as loud as they could.
The woman, from Ein Al-Baidha, a village to the north west of the West Bank, knew the pain and suffering she is going to face on the checkpoint, but she had to reach a clinic especially that her village lacks medical facilities.
“I went to Tubas, with my husband, I couldn’t walk at all, my husband had to carry me and place me in a car, in the back seat, when we reached the checkpoint, he try to tell the soldiers that am sick and need immediate medical attention, but they clubbed him, punched him and insulted him, and forced him to return to the carâ€Â, she said.
“At the beginning, I though my husband came back because they allowed us to pass after knowing my situation, I thought they had some mercy left in their stoned hearts, but instead they insulted and clubbed himâ€Â.
Shortly afterward, some soldiers came to the car and looked at the woman; they wanted to know if she is really sick or trying to deceive them!
Yet, it took them two more hours, and after she nearly died their, they allowed the car to pass, “after knowing that she is not posing any security threat!â€Â
Checkpoints, are now a new sort of humiliation, a place where everything is possible, where villages and cities are disconnected, people are banned from visiting their relatives in the neighboring areas…yet unable even to reach a hospital or a clinic.
Ambulances and medical teams are continuously held on checkpoints, searched and delayed, several residents died in ambulances held on checkpoint, pregnant women gave birth on checkpoint and many lost their new born babies.
Mahmoud Dharaghmeh, a medic at ‘Al-Shifa†Clinic, said that lately it became a daily event in which army hold ambulances, doctors and sick residents who are in urgent need of medical attention.
Dharaghmeh added that ambulances are not an exceptional case, even if urgent cases are being transferred, several ambulances delayed on checkpoints under different claims.
The latest incident of holding an ambulance carrying an urgent case, took place on Al-Hamra checkpoint, this Tuesday.
Soldiers at Beit Eeba checkpoint held an ambulance while it was trying to cross to Tubas, north of the West Bank.
The ambulance was transferring two pregnant women, who were at the time of giving birth, yet the ambulance was held for three hours, and the women gave birth on the checkpoint, both of them and their new born baby were in critical conditions and hospitalized later on in a hospital in Nablus.
