Beit Iba, Sarra, Shavei Shomron 23/2/2004 Maya K., Maya M., Aki S., Yehudiet A., Alia S., Miri K., Ruthie K. (reporter) We stopped at Qalqilya. Everything is open. There is a jeep at the checkpoint. Cars entering freely. At the side cars, army representative and communications. We heard afterwards over the news that there had been demonstrations ther for the “Day of Anger”, but while we were there we heard nothing. We arrived at Sarra. The road to the village is closed by a checkpoint about 500 metres down. The soldiers are at the bottom of the hill, checking the cars that come from Nablus. Three of us went up to the village and the others to Beit Iba. Sarra is very depressing, and not a soul around. Three unfriendly soldiers and one detainee sitting next to the checkpoint looking very frightened. The soldiers did not allow us to talk to him, and he did not speak Hebrew. His ID was being checked. He tried to go through the field, and according to the soldiers, did not stop and therefore he is being punished. He says he went to harvest, and the soldiers fired over his head, and therefore he tried to run away. We called Yuval from the IDF Humanitarian Center and told him about the case, as we feared that there would be violence, the place being so isolated . On our way back at 16.45 we saw the young man still there. He was freed at 17.00. Yuval phoned me in the evening to tell me. At Beit Iba there is a new unit, and one can feel the difference very definitely. When Maki and her friends arrived, they did not allow them to come to the checkpoint and there was no answer to phone calls. They did not know anything about Machsomwatch, but then the veteran friend Sami arrived and we could get to the eastern side of the checkpoint. 2 or 3 people were dealt with, and a woman who was waiting for her sick son, 25 years old, who was returning from the hospital at Nablus was kept waiting 4 hours according to her at the checkpoint, and the doctor’s letter was not accepted. He was kept waiting with students. This was not the day for students to pass. Telephones to the representative of the DCO, and they were freed at about 4pm. A young man wanted to pass from the western side to give blood for his sick mother in hospital. It took much persuasion on the part of Maki, and at last she succeeded. There was a visit of the new battalion commander. The soldiers were busy with getting instructions. They had no idea of the rules governing the checkpoint. There was much movement, and the cars went through slowly. We went to Shavei Shomron, where the soldiers were hostile and silent, and would not speak to us because of a captain’s order as he went past in his jeep. Young men from the settlement, one of them armed, worked symbiotically with the soldiers of the checkpoint. They told us we were not allowed to stand there, as we were disturbing them, and of course we took no notice. One of the young men even acted as a soldier, opened the door of a Palestinian car and demanded the driver’s papers and told him to speak Hebrew. We went up and complained about their actions as citizens and they replied that they were helping the soldiers. I think we should check this out: Is it legal and proper for settlers to act with soldiers and check Palestinians?