"In innocence Please, Replace a Taxi"

Twilight Zone / Taxi driver

5 April 2008

By Gideon Levy

This happened after the car was officially confiscated from its owner by Israeli security forces, who transferred it to the custody of a military base. This happened after soldiers fired at the vehicle for no reason, when the members of a family - including a three-month-old infant - were riding inside, returning from a family gathering.

After a car has been shot at, you have to investigate, of course, even if the passengers have not done anything at all. You also have to confiscate the vehicle for "investigation," and then apparently someone has to vent his anger on it and destroy it. A destroyed taxi inside an army base. Nobody takes responsibility. A case of vandalism for its own sake and nobody gets excited.

"Concerning the purported damage, the driver is allowed to report it to the military authorities, who will deal with it accordingly," says the spokesman of the Judea and Samaria Police District, Superintendent Danny Poleg.

That's nice.

It was the first wedding anniversary of Sahar al-Adam, 29 and her husband Firas al-Adam, 30, a young couple with an infant son named Ahmed. Sahar is a teacher, Firas has been working for the past two years as a taxi driver between Hebron and his village, Beit Ula, west of the city. With his family's savings he bought the luxurious 2002 Mercedes, at a cost of NIS 145,000, and began to work as an incidental driver, since the gates of Israel were closed and his source of income as a construction worker disappeared. He is a handsome young man, wearing a black leather jacket, with no interest in anything related to politics.

On Wednesday, February 19, three days before their anniversary, Sahar drove with the baby to visit her parents, who live in the new Askar refugee camp in Nablus. The trip involved taking a taxi to Hebron, from there to Ramallah, from there to Hawara and from there to Askar - a matter of two and a half hours on a good day. The mother and baby spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa; on Saturday Firas joined them to celebrate their anniversary.

At about 11 A.M. Firas arrived at the Hawara checkpoint at the entrance to Nablus, parked his taxi - he was not allowed to enter the besieged city in his vehicle - and arrived at his in-laws' home.

After lunch the couple wanted to leave. It was 5:30 P.M. They took a taxi to their taxi, parked in Hawara, and from there they drove home to Beit Ula in a good mood. The southern West Bank is relatively open in terms of traffic and the drive was pleasant. In the taxi were the parents and their baby, as well as Firas' brother Adel and his brother-in-law Ahmed, who joined them for the trip. The stretch between Hebron and Nablus is the greatest distance a resident of the territories can travel during his or her lifetime.

Five people were riding in the Mercedes, laden with pots of food and clothes from the grandparents. At about 8:30 P.M. they arrived at the Gush Etzion junction, which is preceded by a round traffic circle. The road was full of speed bumps and the checkpoint itself was not manned, as has been the case recently. Firas drove south at about 30 kilometers per hour. He noticed a group of soldiers standing innocently on the left side of the road, on the shoulder, in the opposite direction.

Suddenly there was gunfire. As they left the traffic circle Firas noticed a soldier running toward his taxi and shooting at it, hitting the hood of the engine with a single bullet. Firas stopped immediately. Sahar became hysterical. Immediately afterward the soldiers charged the vehicle, one of them firing another bullet at the hood. Firas opened the window and began to shout: "Why are you shooting? There's an infant in the car." One of the soldiers put a gun to the driver's head.

In an instant large police and army forces arrived. All the taxi's passengers were ordered to get out and put their hands up. The baby began to scream. Sahar was in shock. Firas asked the policemen and soldiers to let her and the infant get back into the taxi and they agreed. An Israeli ambulance then arrived, checked Sahar and determined that she hadn't incurred any injury, except for suffering an anxiety attack. The soldiers and police began to carry out a search of the taxi, among the pots and clothes. They then informed the family that they were free to go - except for Firas and his taxi. One of the policemen stopped another Palestinian taxi and the family entered it and drove home. Firas remained with the Mercedes.

One of the policemen took the keys of the taxi and drove it in the direction of the nearby Etzion military post; Firas was put into a police jeep and also driven there. Afterward the security forces brought in a tow truck and took the vehicle and Firas to the police station in Kiryat Arba for interrogation.

The interrogator Sami accused Firas of trying to run over the soldiers. Firas denied this out of hand. He explained that the soldiers were standing on the other side of the road, in a place where he couldn't possibly have run them over, that he was driving slowly and stopped immediately after the shooting, and that his entire family was in the taxi, including the infant. The interrogator asked: "Are you saying that the soldiers are lying?" And Firas replied: "Yes, the soldiers are lying." It was already 1:30 A.M. by then.

The interrogator asked him to wait outside and after about 15 minutes Firas was fingerprinted and released. The taxi was left to be checked. It was 2 A.M., the streets of Kiryat Arba - a hostile place for a Palestinian to wander around in - were deserted, and Firas said he didn't know the way home. He had never been in the police station there. "How will I return home at a time like this?" he asked the interrogator, who replied: "You'll manage."

Firas went on foot. When he reached the first Palestinian house, outside of Kiryat Arba, he knocked on the door and woke up the members of the household. They phoned and ordered a Palestinian taxi for him. At 3:30 A.M. Firas returned home. The entire family was waiting, awake and worried about him.

Without a taxi, his property or his source of livelihood, Firas turned the next day to the B'Tselem office in Hebron, and told his story to Musa Abu Hashhash, a field researcher for the human rights organization. The policemen who released him told Firas they would phone him in the coming days to come and take his taxi. And in fact, last Tuesday the police called and told him to come the next day to Etzion to fetch the Mercedes. But when he arrived the policemen told Firas the taxi was waiting for him at the Israel Defense Forces installation in Adurayim, in the southern Hebron hills.

Firas traveled to Adurayim equipped with a note: "To whom it may concern. From: Itzik Zada, Etzion interrogation, Hebron District. Firas al-Adam should be permitted to take his vehicle, a taxi, which is located in Adurayim."

He arrived in Adurayim and was shocked upon seeing the shattered taxi. He even recalls that he slapped his own face in astonishment. The windows, the mirrors and the headlights were smashed to smithereens. Inside were the two huge stones with which the policemen or the soldiers had carried out their work. "What happened to my taxi?" he shouted. A soldier said: "I don't know."

Have a good trip, the keys are inside - as they say in the old Gashash Hahiver comedy skit. Firas tried to turn on the motor. The taxi didn't start. There used to be an engine? There used to be.

Firas asked the soldiers to give him an hour, until a tow truck arrived. He then paid NIS 750 for bringing the piece of junk to his home in Beit Ula.

The spokesman for the Judea and Samaria Police District, Superintendent Danny Poleg, to Haaretz: "In the wake of an incident in which the taxi driver was involved, the taxi was seized by the soldiers during his detention and stored in an IDF parking lot in Adurayim.

The IDF Spokesperson adds: "During a routine activity at the Gush Etzion junction, an IDF soldier attempted to cross the road. A preliminary briefing indicated that a Palestinian taxi approached him at high speed and did not show any sign of stopping. The soldier felt a real threat to his life and therefore fired two shots. Those who sat in the car were not hurt and the vehicle suffered minor damage only. The incident will be investigated in depth."

We drove to Beit Ula together with Firas. The yellow taxi was parked in the yard of the spacious house; his father, an old man of 85, was guarding it. One immediately sees the total destruction. It was carried out with great malice. The two stones are still inside and there are two bullet holes in the hood.

Firas has yet to repair the serious damage. Before parting from us he asked us whether it is even worthwhile to repair the taxi or to wait until the authorities compensate him for it.