Beit Iba, Saturday, 11.2.06, AMObservers: Ruthi Z, Odelia S (reporting)08:45 – at Beit Iba the line is as usual. We approach the checkpoint and go straight to the detainee shed. There are quite a few soldiers (7) and they are very nervous, and the screams of “Scram! Away from here!” start immediately. We explain quietly that it is our right to stand at the checkpoint. One rather fat and grumbling soldier shouts that he will call the police (second time we’ve been threatened this morning) and demands our IDs. He will arrest us “for interfering with the work of the checkpoint in that we spoke to the detainees.” To our joy, none of the other soldiers take up this line or the demand for IDs. The threat of police also fades away. We don’t really relate. The soldiers are needling the line of men. It becomes clear that according to this morning’s regulations (never encountered before) the middle line is only for men over 45. Anyone younger than that is forced to go to the back of the second line. Some 30 men are waiting in each line (the women are in the third line). Fifteen minutes after we arrive the four detainees are released together with another four brought in while we are there the field, bypassing the checkpoint, according to the soldier).09:10 – the line at the checkpoint is significantly shorter and the soldiers have calmed down. Some of them go off to eat, and the commander approaches us somewhat apologetic for his behaviour (but the text still runs “understand, you interfere…”). He’s trying to straighten things out.09:30 – on the way back, on the road connecting Anabta to Jit, a rolling checkpoint. Already at Beit Iba we had heard from taxi drivers that there is a very slow line, and they beg us to go there. We arrive (alongside “Fasfas Village” in the jargon of the commander on the spot), to find 10-15 cars lined up, but it is clear they have been here a long time (all the drivers are out of their vehicles, with the engines shut down). They say they have been there an hour. They run to us as we arrive, each with his own request. The checkpoint consists of an APC with a soldier on it, the commander and another soldier checking cars going south (northbound the road is open). In addition there is a waiting group of 20 pedestrians. Their IDs are being checked and they are sitting by the roadside waiting. Ten minutes after we get there, a little more than half have been released. Those from Tulkarm are not permitted to travel southwards (they want to get to work in Funduq, but are sent home. “Quarantine,” says the commander). The soldiers make no effort to speed up the line, even though they are working all the time. The rate of passage of cars has increased since our arrival. We count the waiting time as around half an hour on average.10:15 – we leave the place.