Anabta, Jubara, Wednesday, 20/7/05, PMObservers: Hagar L., Hannah B. , Raya Y., Deborah L.(Reporting) Anabta (15:30 and 17:15) There are several soldiers present at the checkpoint. They tell us that no one coming from the direction of Tulkarm isallowed to pass through but those who want to enter Tulkarm (except thosewith blue IDs) can. We only saw a few pedestrians enter. (At 17:15 when wepassed again we saw a couple of taxis waiting to enter but they were notallowed in. We thought the soldier had said traffic could enter as long asthey didn’t mind that they could not leave. Perhaps these taxis were tryingto get permission to go and come back.)Jubara (15:40 – 17:00) The vehicle traffic crossing into Israel was veryslow. The soldiers were being especially thorough. There were no detaineesduring our shift (15:30 — 17:00). The vehicle traffic in and out of Tulkarm was light. (We can’t see clearly the end of the line but it lookslike there are about 6 cars waiting on line from Tulkarm and coming intoTulkarm there are a couple of cars passing through every minute but theyare not checked so there is no build up.) The road at this entrance is roughwith many sudden dips and seems suited only for a 4X4. The soldier claimedthat all vehicles were allowed out as long as they had their IDs and did notwant to cross into Israel. Only vehicles with merchandise needed a permit.The vehicles coming from Tulkarm were checked in a cursory manner. Allpedestrians leaving Tulkarm as well as those entering were checkedthoroughly. When asked why is it that people in cars or taxis was were allowedto enter freely but those walking were not, the answer was that it wassecret information. Three Israeli young men who were deaf and lived withtheir father in Tulkarm were allowed in only after the head officerclaimed they had special permission. A woman in her 40’s from Taybeh who liveswith her husband in Tulkarm in the summer when the children are onvacation, and had only left Tulkarm for a few hours this morning in orderto have a medical checkup ,was NOT allowed back in. The soldier told her totry again tomorrow. The head soldier, who answered all our questions, toldus that this was certainly a case of inconvenience but not what heconsidered a humanitarian case.We were told by the head soldier at Jubara that the closure of Tulkarm isover at the Jubara Checkpoint but not in Anabta because Anabta is so closeto Nablus. He says that Anabta was opened after 3 years of vehicle closureas part of the project to lighten restrictions but after the suicide bombingin Netanyah it has again been restricted. He also said that there is a lotof Army action right now in Tulkarm. They are looking for certain groups.