Jit Junction/Beit Iba, Wednesday,26/04/06 PM Observers : Alona, Deborah L.Reporting SUMMARY: We were told that from Azzun to Tulkarm there was only the Ar Ras checkpoint. There was no checkpoint at 57/60. JIT:13:30 – 17:35 People from Jenin or Tulkarm were not allowed to go south or eastward. The number of vehicles on line at Jit, coming from the west, was from 40 to 60 the entire shift. The wait was two to three hours. The bus we noted as number 21 when we arrived had only made it to number 11 when we left an hour and a half later. The Junction was filled with people leaving their taxes or buses and walking or catching a taxi beyond the checkpoint or just standing outside their vehicles for some air. There were 3 soldiers and one list which was used in checking IDs and the soldiers said there was no room to open another line. Drivers of vehicles with humanitarian considerations came to the front to ask permission to cut in line and they were often allowed to do so. The traffic from the east was also being checked. In the early afternoon the traffic from the east was light but at 17:35 there were 25 cars on line. When we complained to the DCO and the Moked we were told that they had checked with the Battalion Commander and were told that everything was fine. This very difficult situation must be seen in the light that 10 minutes before getting to this junction in either direction there is a larger checkpoint (Beit Iba or Huwarra) where the wait is also long. This means that just to go from Nablus to the village of Jit or to Qalqilyia there was a minimum 4 hour wait. For those going further….who knows what awaited them. “Is this the way to solve problems?” Asks a taxi driver who has been waiting 2 hours near his car. “If there is going to be a checkpoint then it least have it organized in such a way that people can pass through quickly.” BEIT IBA: About two hundred people waiting on line throughout the shift. Women and older people were crushed against each other and the barriers on the side of the checkpoint. The wait on this “humanitarian” line took about 20 minutes. The younger men were pressed against the turnstiles and were hidden from our view by the mass at the turnstiles from one direction and by the “humanitarian” line from the other direction. It seemed that there were more women and older people then young men at any one time. Male 15 – 30 year olds from Nablus were not allowed out of Nablus. Those between the ages of 15 – 30 were not allowed to enter Nablus if they are from Jenin or Tulkarm. There was a constant flow of detainees that were each held from a half hour to an hour. They were being held because they had gone through the field or had “made trouble” on the line. The officer of the checkpoint (N.) was willing to talk to us and let us go anywhere we wanted and to talk to whom ever we wanted. He was constantly moving around and trying to keep things going but the amount of people and vehicles was overwhelming. The vehicle traffic was heavy in both directions. A truck that was 20th on line to Nablus took 55 minutes to pass through the CP(15:19 – 16:14). The line of vehicles from Nablus went beyond what we could see and was divided into humanitarian and regular traffic. We counted 27 vehicles before they disappeared into the distance. A truck I noted as number 10 on the regular line took one hour and 45 minutes to pass through (15:48 – 17:02). The truck I had noted as number 20 was number 4 on the regular line when we left 2 hours and 15 minutes later. If he would then have to travel in the direction of Jit, he would have at least another 2 hours to wait ahead of him.