Beit Iba, Thursday, 27.10.05, AMObservers: Biria L, Nura R (reporting)07:30-12:00Deciding to bring the observation at Beit Iba forward, we passed by Jubara (where everything seemed deserted) and arrived at Beit Iba just before 08:00. This was the morning after the terror strike (Hadera) and we drank in Haaretz, with its proclamation of “large scale plans” of the army not to remain silent, but to “scrape up the terror” – a declaration that prepared us for a tough day… To our surprise, Beit Iba checkpoint for once was functioning relatively efficiently with a laid back crew. No outspoken attitude (terrible that we have to note this as something extraordinary). We did not hear, even once, the calls “back, behind the lines,” and so on. Occasionally they were forgoing a check of those (the more elderly) entering Nablus.An angry and desperate taxi driver, before entering the checkpoint, was holding forth bitterly to everyone: “all he wanted was to make a living and bring food to his small home… When he worked in Israel, his situation had been better, and now he wasn’t allowed to get there… all the time, closure and encirclement. Even for taxis there wasn’t much work now…. All the politicians only look out for themselves (including the Palestinians) and the simple folks are the ones who are suffering…” What was there to say?We asked the soldiers and the DCO representative why the checkpoint is almost deserted: is it Ramadan? Is it despair? Is there closure? No, no closure, but apparently a little bit of each is influencing, and mainly (the first time we hear it) Thursday is a slow day: nobody goes in to Nablus to work on Thursdays. We asked what are the tough days, and the answer was: Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoon. Maybe it’s possible to organize shifts for Saturday afternoons?In a long talk with A. and D. (the checkpoint commander), they said that, yesterday, an illegal outpost was evacuated. Had anybody heard about that? We were also told that Jit Junction “falls between the chairs” as far as DCO jurisdictions were concerned, and they suggested to us that , in the event of rolling checkpoints, etc., we should contact the DCO at Qalqiliya – for the attention of shifts coming to Jit Junction.We left in the direction of Jubara at 10:30.