Beit Iba, 26.7.2006, Wednesday afternoonObservers: Sara P. Tami C. Raya I. (reporting)Natanya translating.15.40 At Beit Iba 25 cars amongst them many trucks. The confusion is great, something which we had forgotten from the past. Ambulance tries tto get through 9and we too) and in the end manages this with the help of people who take the initiative. At the checkpoint are 20 detainees whose numbers increase the whole time.When I ask the soldier why they are detained he says to me “Shut your mouth” which I did at this stage but not later. We try to find a break in this lack of communication at the checkpoint . The looks we get are filled with threat and anger. The handling of the checkpoint is nervous and inefficient. Orders are given by shouting and threatening hand movements. The reaction from those standing on the other side are shouts which sound as if they are organized. 15.55 Suddenly and before we can understand the reason for it the soldier who met us in anger attacks one of those detained with fists hitting him everywhere on his body, hits and points his rifle at him. I run to find the commander to explain to him the combustibility of the situation while Tammie and Sarah try to separate the soldier from the detained Palestinian. The soldier screams at us “Get away from here, you prostitutes. Go to Lebanon where we have 9 dead.” The commander arrives and tries to bring about some order. We explain to him that nothing much was wanting for the soldier to spray all around him (with gunfire). In the meantime the Palestinian is put into the jorra (not the soldier) . Sara explains to the commander that the soldier is under such pressure that his presence at the checkpoint is a danger to all around and that his breaking point is non-existent. We manage in a round about way to get the name of the soldier so that we can lodge a complaint. And we ask the commander why the Palestinian has to pay the price of this incident. There are now 25 people in the enclosure to which the Palestinian has been snow sent and they ask for water. We give them what water we have with us. Tammie takes the empty bottles and asks where she can fill them. She comes back with filled bottles but afterwards when she asks the commander if that is what the soldiers drink he says “Better not to drink from there,” but that is what there is.16.20 People who tried to cross through the hills are brought in. We phone the humanitarian centre and ask them to help with freeing the detainees all of whom are young. We then find that there are 3 wanted men amongst them and the others are there for “re-education/” One of them who shouts and makes hand movements is put into isolation from where he continues to shout, waving his hands and trying to inflame his friends. Sara phones Dalia Bassa and says that from her experience the man is under the influence of drugs and should be dealt with in another way.16.25 We again phone the humanitarian centre and are told that the DCO does not deal with the problems of detainees. We try to find Hadas and inform the humanitarian centre. 16.55 The commander receives a phone call, takes out the ids and slowly begins to release the detainees. ^ remain, security risks. Summary: A hard day even without the usual reasons. The fighting in the north exacerbates the situation and added to that the fact that the unit stationed at the checkpoint is a new one. 17.00 When we leave Beit Iba Nadim phones us to say that he is at Beit Lid (not in connection with us) and can not get through. He asks that we should come so as to make our presence known. In the meantime we find that there is “a stop to life” in all of the West Bank. We are going towards the crossroads of Tapuach, count about 70 cars which do not move. Somehow we manage to get through to a rolling checkpoint 34 where we are told that there is no possibility of getting to Tel Aviv and the road is blocked. After an hour with little movement we are told to go in the direction of Emanuel and go towards this in a slow procession . At the end of this day we arrive home 3 and a half hours after we left Beit Iba at 20.20.