JUBARA AND TULKARM, Wednesday am, 14 December 2004Observers: Elisheva A, Natalyia A, Noa G, Michalina D Tulkarm South (gate 700, near Kfar Irtah) We reach the checkpoint at 07:50 and are told by the commander there that there is no closure. Passage of those who have permits to work in Israel and of goods being transferred using the back to back method is free. At the southern end, six lorries wait their turn to enter the area used for off- and on-loading. There are also some six or seven vehicles belonging to Israeli employers waiting for their Palestinian workers . The delay in the arrival of the workers is probably due to a combination of the bad weather and the fear of curfew imposed (but by now withdrawn) on Tulkarm refugee camp in the past few days. In the distance we can see two children standing alongside the northern gate, but we do not know whether they are trying to cross the checkpoint, or whether they are there for some other reason. Our request to be allowed to go through the checkpoint and find out what is happening at the northern gate is refused. After about twenty minutes, the children got away and we proceed to Jubara. JUBARA 08:20: the commander of the checkpoint won’t talk to us, refuses to answer a question as to whether there is or is not a closure in force and even forbids us to speak to the civil administration representative and forbids him to talk to us- he obeys this order and moves away from us.We try to call Kamil from DCO, but all we get is an answerphone.There is very little traffic from east to north, but what there is moves without problems. People pass through on presentation of an identity card. An ambulance goes through after a short check (it took four minutes). A car belonging to the settlers passes us and we get a torrent of curses and abuse and they spit at us. At the side stand two detainees – father and son, held for having been illegally in Israel. They come from the Nablus region and have been working in Jubara. The soldiers confiscated their ID cards as they tried to re-cross the checkpoint on their way home. They say they have been held for over an hour. The soldiers refuse to reply to our queries about how long they have been there or how much longer they will be held. It’s raining and very cold. The detained men have no coats and not even an umbrella. They are out in the open field and not permitted to move. We call the IDF’s humanitarian centre and give the men’s details to Yuval who promises to check and help. A labourer from Tulkarm with a permit to work in Israel on a regular basis is not allowed to go through the checkpoint until his Israeli employer comes to pick him up. He returned here from work yesterday but because of the curfew was not allowed to go back to his home and spent the night in Ar-Ras village. This morning when he wanted to go back to work the soldiers at Jubara checkpoint insisted that he go the long way round via gate no. 700, the one where he had been refused passage last night on his way home. After much pleading, he gets a “better reply”-he can come through if his employer comes to get him. But the boss is busy at the moment and thus the man is forced to wait in the pouring rain, out in the open, together with the two detained men. A farmer, who has all the relevant permits, wants to get to his land which lies quite near to the Jubara checkpoint. But he is told to go through the gate near Sla’it, some kilometres away; the man does not give up, he pleads and pleads and finally gets his way. We make our way back to gate 700. The line of lorries is short, there are only three waiting . Most of the Israeli employers are still there. There are also Israeli Arabs wanting to visit family in Tulkarm, Artakh [?] and the area around there. They have all been refused permission to do so. Under new regulations issued on 21 December 2003, Israelis may only visit the Tulkarm region if they have a permit to do so. Among those refused permission to go through the checkpoint are two men, brothers, who both live in Israel, but whose aged mother lives in Irtah, and another who originally comes from Jayyus and wants to visit his brother there , and so on. They ask our help in finding out who is responsible for issuing the required permits. A few weeks ago we heard from the soldiers that it is the job of the Interior Ministry (since the permits are requested by Israeli citizens), but one of the men said he had been there and no one knew what he was talking about. The centre for the defence of the individual had no answer and neither did the Israel Association for Civil Rights. We go back to Jubara to see what is happening with the detained men: shivering with cold and standing in the pouring rain they are still there, where we left them, and it is now three hours that they have been there. Two more have joined them now, men from Tulkarm who have been working in Jubara. Kamil’s telephone still doesn’t answer, so we again call the centre for the defence of the individual, and, at the same time, the operations officer of the Ephraim brigade. A few minutes later, at 10:15, the first two of the men are released and after another five minutes