New Checkpoint Method: Gassing Palestinian Cars with Unknown Chemical

Drivers and passengers feel nauseated after the Israeli checkpoints.

Palestinian workers at the Bethlehem checkpoint. Photo by: Daniel Bar-On

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE) - Yesterday, Amira Hass reported in Haaretz the Israeli military are now pumping “nausea-inducing chemicals,” into cars at a Bethlehem checkpoint, as a new search method. Hass describes the IDF first pulling over cars, then:

once parked, the passengers are asked to roll up all windows, apart from that of the driver – and exit the vehicle. Two tubes are then connected to the vehicle – one is connected to an air pump, the other, which passes through a tiny filter, is attached to the vehicle. A policeman with a stopwatch flicks the air pump switch.

Palestinians who regularly experienced the gas tubes told Hass that Israeli police refused to identify the substance, and the military also gave the Haaretz journalist conflicting accounts. One Israeli police official said the chemicals are sanctioned and another denied that chemicals are used in checkpoint searches.

Hass describes the unknown gas through the experience of an international who commutes regularly through the checkpoint:

[T]he tube is left connected for approximately 10 minutes. Afterward, the filter is removed and taken to a nearby building. The worker says she was under the impression that some kind of chemical was disseminated into the vehicle, as she and another passenger began feeling nauseous and suffered from headaches several days afterwards. The worker has informed her country’s embassy.

The Israeli official response to the mystery gas is that “it must conduct arbitrary, rudimentary checks through use of sophisticated technological means, all the while alleviating the experience of those being checked.” Haaretz indicates the new chemical has been used in checkpoint searches since December.

About Allison Deger

Special thanks to Mondoweiss and Ha'aretz

http://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/new-checkpoint-method-gassing-palestinian-cars-with-unknown-chemical.html

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