BEIT IBA, Saturday 22 May, ‏ 2004 PM Observers: Vivi Z., Roni P., Victoria B. colour = red>Travelling along Route 6 en route to Beit Iba, we found the usual unannounced road blocks, with some 25 yellow minibus taxis held up at Tel Zion, and nine vehicles at As-Sawiya. Beit Iba was manned by relatively decent reservists, and Seren O. Measured by the standards of the checkpoint hell, the situation was not bad: people went relatively quickly through the checking stations and the soldiers showed flexibility and consideration for humanitarian cases. There were only few students since most had stayed in Nablus for the weekend because of exams. A 35-year-old man was turned back by mistake, which we managed to rectify. Several people were detained for a not-terribly-long security check , the ID cards of two men were deemed suspect (the stamp on the photo was not clearly visible), and the two were waiting for an Israeli police check. One managed to talk his way out by summoning his mother and showing the soldiers her ID card . A Palestinian policeman who had been caught walking around the checkpoint was being punished by a four-hour-long detention period at the concrete wall : “I spend much of my life here,” he told us. . The Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli authorities have not yet reached an arrangement for the PA policemen: only six are registered as allowed passage, and the rest have to sneak into Nablus around the checkpoints. We could not fathom the rules whereby goods were or were not allowed through the checkpoint: thus Bamba [a children’s snack] and batteries were allowed, but shoes, screws and concrete blocks were not! The only trucks allowed through were those carrying water, gas, and medications. But there was some special arrangement for businesses in Deir Sharaf. Drivers told stories about the truck checkpoint at Awarta where they said it takes half a day to go through, and, while one is there, Israeli police come around collecting fines from the drivers– the favourite being an NIS 500 fine for having “worn tires” (and we have all seen and felt the condition of the roads in the West Bank along which Palestinians must travel!) At the end of our shift, an Israeli police car gave us a demonstration of what was meant by showing up to collect fines at Beit Iba, too.