BEIT IBA, ANABTA, Wednesday 4 August AMObservers: Elisheva A, Natalia A, Liat J, Yehudit K, two guests from the Council for Peace and Security, Michalina D (reporting) colour=red> 08.20-08.50 — From Jubara to Beit Iba We saw side roads and tracks blocked by earth piles [in a punitive measure by the Israel army which severely hampers local life because it virtually imprisons villagers in their hamlets since there is neither access nor egress to any vehicular traffic as long as the obstacles remain]. One, on the right, apparently leads to Saffarin. Before the turnoff to Deir Sharaf we turned in the opposite direction, to Anabta. We were on a Palestinian main road linking Nablus to Tulkarm with heavy traffic, including public transport and ambulances. Before Anabta village, the road was blocked by a heavy iron gate, locked for weeks, even months. It was opened at the end of July for a short time as an alternative to the southern exit from Tulkarm through Jubara, which was temporarily closed. Since it isn’t manned, everything goes through by “back-to-back” methods [i.e. lorries and buses and taxis arrive, off-load their goods or passengers and these are then transferred to vehicles waiting at the other side of the iron gate for transport onwards]. Soldiers on the adjacent watch tower watch it all. Buses come as close as possible (the road is narrow), passengers dismount and cross the refuse pile by the gate. Then they continue by taxi, and the same in reverse happens on the other side. Children wait with hand carts and help to convey packages. The many taxis on both sides of the gate block the narrow road. Sick people too are transported in similar fashion. An ambulance brings a sick man on a stretcher to the gate. He is passed under the gate, then he is laid on a stretcher from another ambulance on the other side.O8.50-11.20–Beit IbaShortly after our arrival, the officer N. arrived, and he and the District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) representative were our address for questions [the DCO is the army section that handles civilian maters; it usually has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians]. The latter said he’d been attacked by a woman with a knife the day before. A. was very tough at first but, as time passed, he became more attentive. N. was cooperative, attentive and helpful in some cases. Most of the soldiers, including the commander, were tense and aggressive. Conditions were harsh: the heat was oppressive, the dust hung in the air, and the checkpoint was crowded.The line was long and a mass of people approached the checking position. We heard shouting and two soldiers jumped out and shoved the people back, aiming their rifles at them. One soldier screamed hysterically that the checkpoint was closed. N. intervened, calmed everyone down and the checkpoint remained open. Checking was speeded up.Most of the time people were on the move in both directions; several dozen stood in line at the exit from Nablus. Most women and children went through relatively fast without checking, except for a cursory check of their packages. From time to time there was a random check of a woman’s papers. Men stood in a separate line which proceeded slowly; they were asked for an identifying document and sometimes required to lift their shirts [to prove that they were not carrying explosive belts!]. Except for those with passage permits, all men aged 16-30 were detained for checking [ the checkpoint soldiers phone their ID details to the General Security Services (GSS) which cross-checks them against a central list of security suspects and then phones the results back to the checkpoint. This cumbersome procedure, which often takes a long time, can take even longer if the checkpoint soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before they contact the GSS, or if they wait to get back a batch from the GSS rather than releasing individuals as clearance comes through for each. During this time, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoints since the soldiers retain their ID cards until clearance arrives]. Since passage for men in this age-group is only with a special permit, only those with permits or “alibis” tried to go through. The number of detainees was never less than 10. At 10.50 all the detainees were released, but five new ones had arrived and were still there when we left . Among them was a group of students and prospective students trying to get to exams or to enrol. All were detained including those whose had student cards because it was Thursday and, if they want to go through the checkpoints without having to apply for special permits, students can only leave Nablus on Wednesday and go in on Saturday[Friday is the Moslem day of rest], and then only if they have valid student cards.Some examples of those detained: a village teacher going to Nablus to get his wages at the bank: he can only draw the money in Nablus or Ramallah; he said he was getting married the next day and needed the money; after a long wait, he gave up and went to try his luck in Ramallah;a heart patient trying to return home from Nablus, after staying there without a permit; he had medication for arrhythmia; N. speeded up the check and he went through after an hour;a male student from the nursing school (with a document confirming it) hurrying to an exam at 10.00; he turned back at 10.20;two boys trying to return to their village: the soldiers said they’d asked to go to Nablus the previous day and been refused. The boys said they’d been waiting for hours; after our intercession, they were released at 10.30;a man with abdominal pain referred to hospital by the village doctor; following our intervention, he went through after 40 minutes;a pharmacist, who goes through every few days, the last time several days ago; the DCO representative knew him, but the commander insisted on the GSS security check;a Nablus resident with a pile of forms en route to enrol at the American university at Jenin; we tried to speed up the check and he went through after 45 minutes;a student at Nablus’s An-Najah university, with a student card, living in a village, wanted to go into Nablus to complete enrolment for next year; again, following our intercession, he went through after an hour ;and a positive story – a woman and her husband, accompanying a small child, wanted to go to Anabta where the child’s mother lives; the couple were from Nablus and were relatives of the child’s mother; the woman was allowed through but wanted her husband to come too; luckily, as a teacher, he had a passage permit at Huwwara and was let through.Passage of ambulances and other vehicles:an ambulance with a woman en route to surgery in Jerusalem was detained because her husband, accompanying her, had no permit and his ID card had been taken pending receipt of GSS security clearance; after 20 minutes, we asked N. to intervene and he went over to the ambulance, checked and let them through;an ambulance with driver, doctor and medic, on its way to the village clinic, was detained for no clear reason and released after half an hour, with the other ambulance, after N.’s intervention;a car with 100 packages of medications, cosmetics and cleaning materials was detained en route to Nablus; it was claimed that there was a ban on taking merchandise into Nablus; the soldier later changed his mind and asked the driver to open all the packages, and 40 minutes later, after a cursory check, he let him through;a car with a load of Bamba ( a favorite children’s snack) sent daily to one of the villages was detained on the same pretext, but also went through in the end.And finally – two people appealed to the DCO representative: they’d been trying for some time to submit applications for permits to the DCO but didn’t know which DCO they belonged to. They’d been sent from pillar to post. A. checked for them – they belonged to Tulkarm and he gave them the name of the soldier they should see there.