CAR CRUSHERS
Police out to crush underground market for vehicles stolen in Israel, unroadworthy in Palestine or used in criminal acts
Palestinian police target unlicensed vehicles to beat West Bank crime,
RAMALLAH // At the police officer’s signal, a bulldozer arm smashes down on a blue Hyundai. The car owner and her children protest but receive little sympathy.
Their car is one of thousands destroyed by Palestinian authorities every year.
“This car has not been legally registered since 2007, despite its Israeli licence plates,” said one of the officers involved in the roadside wrecking at Al Ram, a Palestinian area on the outskirts of Jerusalem. “I asked her to produce documents and she couldn’t present any.”
The vehicle’s destruction is part of an effort to combat a large underground market in the West Bank for vehicles stolen in Israel or deemed unfit for the road.
Authorities are also concerned because these cars are often used to commit crimes in the Israeli-occupied territory.
Across the West Bank, stacks of crushed cars bearing Israeli plates show the extent of the police crackdown.
Armed police and two bulldozers were involved in the roadside wrecking at Al Ram. The officer heading the operation said that in one day he had seized 100 vehicles that lacked documents.
Many were crushed on the spot then taken away.
Palestinian police said 16,000 vehicles met the same fate last year, and 5,000 in January and February.
Some of the cars were stolen from Israel and smuggled into the West Bank for sale to Palestinians. Others had failed annual tests for roadworthiness in Israel. Such cars are removed from Israeli registers, and their owners are supposed to scrap them. Instead, they are often transported to the West Bank, where they are sold to Palestinians for as little as a few hundred dollars.
Although Israel has built an imposing security barrier that runs through the West Bank and heavily guarded checkpoints monitor closely what enters the country, controls are far looser going in the opposite direction.
Palestinian police are not allowed to operate on the other side of the checkpoints, which are under the exclusive control of the Israeli army.
The Israeli guards show less concern in stopping vehicles with yellow Israeli plates, which are allowed to enter the West Bank, than those with white Palestinian plates, which are banned from entering Israel.
Holders of Israeli identity papers – including Palestinians from East Jerusalem or those with Israeli citizenship – can use this blind spot to drive the cars to the West Bank.
Cars deemed illegal in Israel are thus able to criss-cross the West Bank freely, said Palestinian police spokesman Louay Ezrikat.
“Most of the crimes and offences committed in the West Bank, such as thefts or attacks, are carried out using unregistered vehicles with yellow plates,” he said.
Of the 15 Palestinians killed on the roads in January and February, seven died in accidents involving unregistered vehicles, he said.
The ministry of religious endowments recently made these illegal cars the theme of the Friday sermon in all mosques in the West Bank.
Mr Ezrikat pointed the finger at Israeli authorities who conduct strict checks on what enters Israel but have little concern for what leaves.
“All these vehicles enter from Israeli-controlled checkpoints, which allow Israeli individuals to make the Palestinian territories a landfill,” he said.
An Israeli police spokeswoman said they were aware of the problem and co-operated fully with their Palestinian counterparts, including making regular arrests.
Palestinian police reported that 16,000 illegal vehicles were crushed last year