Roadblock blues

May 16, 2009 - 9:08 AM by David · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel, War

spikes I don’t think this happens much in other countries, unless you drive into a parking lot through the out entrance. But it’s just another one of those things that keeps us on our toes in Israel.

A true story that happened to a neighbor this week. A bit of background – when you drive into Jerusalem from Ma’aleh Adumim, you need to pass through a three-lane checkpoint manned by soldiers, military police and/or border policemen. You slow down and get waved through – if you don’t look Arab – and clomp over a small metal barrier on the road. (If you do look Arab, then you have to produce ID.)

The barrier evidently houses those sharp spikes you find in parking lot exits, that can be ejected with the touch of a button if one of the authorities wants to stop a vehicle from passing.

Unfortunately, that’s what happened to the neighbor’s husband – or at least to the car next to his. As he was passing through the checkpoint, the checkers evidently spotted a susicious car that wasn’t stopping in another lane and activated the road spikes.

However, all three sets of spikes rose simultaneously– one in each lane- just as my husband, unluckily, was passing through. The result? two punctured tires, ruined beyond repair.
When two tires are punctured, having a single spare is of no help. My husband had to wait for a tow truck–then was towed back to the Maaleh Adumim tire repair place.

The tow truck cost NIS 242, two new tires cost NIS 700. It also cost him hours of work and, naturally, aggravation. Reporting the incident at the Ma’aleh Adumim police station today, I was told that the Border Police, not they, deal with this, to check back in a week to see if they have received my complaint. and then to wait quietly until our recompense (which hopefully covers all costs) is arranged. In the meantime, we are out nearly NIS 1,000.

Security, security, but this is ridiculous! At the very least, payments should be immediate -not entailing endless phone calls, and running from office to office. Besides–why, if a car in one lane must be stopped, do all the spikes emerge?

So friends, as you pass the roadblock, look left and right. If nearby cars look suspicious, beware. Though you are innocent, you may reap their punishment with them.

After reading that, working at home seems like a viable option.

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Tags: jerusalem, Ma'aleh Adumim, military police, roadblock

A ‘tail’ of two cities

January 3, 2009 - 6:31 PM by David · 4 Comments
Filed under: Crime, General, Israeliness, Life, coexistence

It's the dog days for Jewish and Arab neighbors near Jerusalem.

Ma’aleh Adumim borders the Arab community of Azariya. There’s not much contact between the two peoples, and in fact, since 2002 Israelis from Ma’aleh Adumim are prevented by the army from entering the village for their own safety.

There are many residents of Azariya however, like laborers, construction workers, remodeling experts, who work in Ma’aleh Adumim with the proper Israeli identity card – either a work permit or a Jerusalem residency card.

However, it’s not too difficult to cross the road and climb the hill separating the two communities. And that’s what one 13-year-old Azariya youth did a couple weeks ago. My eight-year-old son’s friend Ephraim was out walking his dog near his home, when the teen grabbed his leash and ran off with the mutt.

Ephraim ran home to tell his father, who called the police. They arrived pretty quickly, heard the story, and said they would look around for the pooch. Ephraim, of course, had no idea that the thief was from Azariya, but the police warned his dad that there wasn’t much they could do if he was not from Ma’aleh Adumim.

The family put up signs and scoured the neighborhood over the next few days, to no avail. Then by chance, when Ephraim was walking home from school, he spotted the 13-year-old crook. He ran home again, his mother called the police and they picked up the youth for questioning. Aside from discovering he was indeed from Azariya, they weren’t able to get any useful information from him about the dog, and they released him.

Ephraim’s father had a lead though. The next day, he went to a construction site and asked around if any of the workers were from Azariya, and a couple of them said yes. He explained the situation to them, and they said they would try to find the kid and his family and help locate the dog.

That night, Ephraim’s dad got a call from one of the builders who told them, “We found the family and the kid, but there’s no dog here. They said he ran away.”

But, they added, don’t despair, we’re going to search around and look for the dog. Ephraim’s dad got another call a while later from the builder turned detective saying, “We found someone who said they saw the dog, so we’re getting a search party together in that area.”

The next morning, the builder called Ephraim’s dad and said, “We found him, and we’re sending him back in a taxi – he should be there in a half hour.”

Sure enough, Ephraim’s dog showed up chauffered at his home and eight days after he was abducted, had a joyful reunion with his family. Later that morning, Ephraim’s dad went to the construction site and gave the worker a cash reward for taking matters into his own hands, and helping to forge a ‘good neighbor’ policy between Ma’aleh Adumim and Azariya. It should be a lesson for all of us.

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