SARRA and BEIT IBA, Saturday 13 March 2004 AM Observers: Varda G., Nina M., Yehudit A. and a guest colour=red> Sarra — 9:15-9:40 We can get as far as the checkpoint with the transit taxi because of the gate that blocks the way up. The soldiers explain the “rules”: No one is allowed onto Route no. 60, so that the people of Sarra, Till and Jitt are cut off from each other. The Sarra and Till residents can get out only through Beit Iba because the straight road to Nablus is blocked to them. The sick have to get hold of some means of transport to get them to Beit Iba, from where they can go by ambulance to the Nablus hospital. Drivers need a special permit to get from those villages to Beit Iba. Young men ( 16 to 35 years of age) are to all intents and purposes trapped inside their villages, as in Beit Furik. We talk to a truck driver just arrived from Kozin and he tells us that the army has been commandeering houses in the village which they change every 2 or 3 months. During the time that the army occupies each home, the family concerned has to move out. He says that their biggest problem is with the high-school pupils who have to get to Nablus. Those aged 16 to 18 need permits to go through the checkpoint in Beit Iba and they don’t get them easily. He wants help solving this problem.Beit Iba, 10:00-13:00On arrival we find that the soldiers have taken the identity cards and student cards from a large group of young men for checking. The soldiers claim that many of the cards are fake. The Shin Bet (General Security Service) check takes hours and hours. A young dentist has been waiting since 09:30 in the morning and his documents are only returned at 13:30 , and even then he is not allowed to proceed via the checkpoint to his clinic in Nablus. A soldier appears every 15 minutes with a few documents in his hand which he returns to their owners only after first insisting that they all sit . We try contacting everyone we can think of who might help and apparently as a result of the pressure a number of fairly senior officers appear who, full of self-full importance, confidently explain to us the importance of their security work.