Civilians man border crossings
Private contractor resumes operation of Ephraim crossing near Tul Karm as part of IDF plan to reduce soldiers’ contact with Palestinians
Palestinians crossing the Ephraim crossing near the West Bank town of Tul Karm were in for a surprise Monday as civilian Israelis and not young IDF soldiers operated what was a military post.
Part of an IDF plan to curtail contact between IDF soldiers and the Palestinian populace on border crossings in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, a new unit of civilian guards has been set up and private security companies have been contracted to operate main checkpoints.
While the army seeks to ease the strain of the occupation on innocent Palestinians and assign its human resources to more vital tasks, many acknowledge that the move carries as much risk as dividends.
“The main objective of the IDF is to minimize contact with the Palestinian population. Soldiers have other missions. We estimate the private guards can do the job better,” said Brigadier-General Betsalel Trieber, the head of the Checkpoints Authority at the Ministry of Defense.
‘That’s not a task for soldiers’
Since the reoccupation of the West Bank under Operation Defense Shield in the spring of 2002, the IDF has been in daily contact with the Palestinians as checkpoints and border crossings were dispersed across the West Bank to stymie the free movement of terror cells and thwart terror attacks.
Five years into the second intifada, the military top brass has reached the conclusion that young and inexperienced IDF soldiers are unfit for daily contact with an increasingly frustrated Palestinian population. The belief is that salaried and experienced civilian guards are more suited for the task.
Trieber conceived the plan a year ago when he recommended IDF volunteers assisting soldiers at major border crossings between Israel and the territories be drafted into a civilian unit whose sole task is to man Israel’s gates to its hostile neighbor.
“I always believed it was not a task for soldiers. We need professional individuals to deal with the Palestinians. Civilian guards will receive a salary and therefore will have an interest in doing the job as good as possible. They will develop skills and soldiers will be assigned different tasks. We should not forget the mental strain suffered by soldiers at border crossings,” Trieber told Ynet.
‘Guards received appropriate training’
In 2005, the IDF announced a tender for the operation four crossings: Gilboa, Ephraim, Betonia and Erez.
Mikud won the tender for operating the Ephraim crossing in the near Tul Karm and its guards have replaced military police soldiers Monday morning.
On Thursday Sheleg Lavan, a security company, will take over operations at the Erez crossing near the Gaza Strip from an IDF brigade.
“We placed intransigent criteria in tenders. Guards underwent training schemes set by the army and they are well familiar with their mission,” Trieber said.
“We need to see and learn. That’s a new experience for us. We will derive lessons from this experience,” he added.
