Sunday, August 02, 2009

Birth @ A Checkpoint

The IDF checkpoints along the roads between pre-67 Israel and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) are an annoyance for all. I don't know how the residents of Efrat and Gush Etzion manage to stay sane, with the backups from the Gush Etzion checkpoint before the tunnels road at the Southern entrance of Jerusalem. I've been stuck there at all hours of the day, from 5-30 minutes.

Last week, the Eliyahu Checkpoint on road 55 was stopping cars left and right (Jews and Arabs alike), opening trunks of cars, asking for identification, etc. Apparently, over the past few weeks, Jews and Arab alike, (Jewish settlers as well) have illegally smuggled Arabs in the trunks of their vehicles from the West Bank through the checkpoint.

Last night, the routine traffic jam at the Hizma Checkpoint was too much for a family from the Binyamin region on their way into Jerusalem. The car's driver called up the police dispatcher and said his wife was in serious labor and they needed to get through the checkpoint quickly.

A police car arrived and started to clear a lane of traffic, but the car pulled over to the side of the road. The policeman stopped his car and got out to see what was wrong, and found that the car's pregnant mother was about to give birth. The policeman quickly called Magen David Adom, Israel emergency medical services, and their dispatcher gave over-the-phone instructions to the policeman -- how to deliver the baby. A minute later the MDA ambulance arrived and took the recovering mother and a healthy baby to a Jerusalem hospital. (HNN via rotter)


Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

2 comments:

Neshama said...

What will be the "birthplace" on the child's identity card? Is it considered Jerusalem? Or is it (that awful term) "West Bank, Israel"? Or is it "Efrat", or .....?

Second, if you were considering a move to WordPress or Typepad, what do you see as the pros and cons vs blogspot? Is this worth a post?

Lurker said...

Neshama: Or is it (that awful term) "West Bank, Israel"?

It would never be "West Bank, Israel"; just "West Bank". Those who call it "West Bank" (rather than Judea and Samaria) use that term precisely because they don't accept that it has any connection to Israel.

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