Beit Iba, Thursday,16.3.06 PM Observers: Naveh M., Michal S., Galit H., Nurit V-L. (reporting) Summary: Continuation of the closure and delays of hours at the roadblocks. A “wanted” man detained at Beit Iba. Men under the age of 30 are not allowed to go through the Beit Iba checkpoint to Tulkarm, in spite of the coming weekend. 14:00 At the entrance to Jit, we delivered medicine from Tel Ha’Shomer to Zachariah for patients. 14:10 Roadblock at the Jit Junction – empty. No vehicles waiting. We didn’t stay. 14:15 Roadblock at the Shave Shomron junction.The closure continues past the Purim holiday. At first, we counted 11 vehicles waiting. They speeded up the checking. Later, the line got longer. One of the drivers standing there for a while asked our help in getting to Ramallah. We called the DCO to clarify who was allowed to go where and when. We got only short answers, and not right away. For example, there is no passage from Jenin and Tulkarm to other areas. This driver had no chance at all. At the head of the line a bus was checked, and afterward the driver was asked to stand with the bus on the side for a long time. Later he was made to turn back , as well as another bus. Testimony of two brothers who were on the second bus: one lives in London and the other in San Francisco. They came to part from their mother, who is dying in a village near Nablus. Their flight is tomorrow, but because of the difficulties on the road, and the anxiety that they won’t get there in time, they left this morning in order to get to the point from which they can surely travel to the airport. They have already been detained for 4 hours at the checkpoints. They hope to reach Qalqilya by nightfall. The soldiers and police were efficient within the framework of their jobs. Two ambulances with sirens went through to the head of the line and weren’t stopped. 15:15 Beit IbaFirst of all, we gave back the police reports to the taxi driver as Ada R. had requested; she is now making a thorough check concerning the behavior of the police. At this hour, the pedestrian checkpoint is full, but no worse than that. In a short time, the number of people decreases. 15:30 There is a young man in the detention shed, a student at A-Najah Univerity, from Qalqilya. He didn’t tend to speak with us, but did give his name. According to the checkpoint commander, his name came up “bingo” on the “short list” and the GSS is coming to take him. In the vehicle line there is a lot of traffic coming from Nablus. The cars wait in two lines, but at the end, they are all checked in one line. Thus, there is crowding. We mentioned this to the commander, he will add manpower. The checkpoint commander, Second Lieutenant R., worked efficiently, alert to small details, polite in every part of the checkpoint and during the whole time we were there; we had no problem in communicating with him or the soldiers. He instructed the soldiers to be careful about separating the lines for men and women. This was the case for the lines going toward Nablus, but not entirely in the other direction, not because of the soldiers. There are no signs there and those arriving got into the same line since the “humanitarian line” wasn’t open. At the exit from the checkpoint, a woman came to us and complained that her daughter, who is 16, had to stand all day in a line mixed with men and women which adds to her general distress. We told this to the commander, he promised that the matter would be dealt with today. 15:55 We called the humanitarian hotline and asked them not to “dry out” the detainee at the checkpoint and to speed up the GSS interrogation. He was already there for more than an hour. We got the usual answer, “They are on the way.” 16:10 The checkpoint commander got an order to handcuff the detainee and cover his eyes. This seemed unnecessary, as he had already been sitting there for an hour without this “procedure.” 16:25 We called again to the hotline and the DCO. The answer: There is no car available right now. The GSS told the hotline that the detainee had been sitting there for only 20 minutes. Someone would come to get him by nightfall! Wonderful! We corrected this information according to our eye-witness of the happenings (how many times 20 minutes are there between 14:45 and 16:30?). 16:30 We called Gil, the unit spokesman. He promised to check which he did. At this time there was a briefing taking place at the checkpoint for paratrooper officers about the management of the checkpoint. An order came to the checkpoint, to take the detainee in the vehicle at the checkpoint to the battalion. The checkpoint commander asked another officer there to do this. This officer went first to look over the second detainee and his packages. He then asked him, in a kind of “neighbor procedure” to check out the bag of the first detainee (only now? for the second time?). After a few more exchanges, he took the detainee in the car, handcuffed and blindfolded. 17:00 Another man from Qusin drove up to the checkpoint. The detainee signaled to us to tell him to wait for him. The youth parked the car and came over to talk with us. We sent him to the commander. He identified himself to him as a family member who knew the detainee well. After he had identified him, with all his details, the commander, R., decided to release him, while warning him that he had to get a correct ID, otherwise he could expect to be detained again, on suspicion of forgery. 17:10 A young man younger than 30, came to the checkpoint. He had finished work at the finance authority in Nablus and wanted to go home to Tulkarm, but he was refused. His older friend from work was allowed through, and he waited for him to try to help him out. But his pleading went unheard, that he had nowhere to stay for the weekend in Nablus. The soldiers said that he could leave the checkpoint by way of Al Bidhan. He turned back angrily. According to the checkpoint commander, the order that had come this morning was not to let youths under 30 pass through in the direction of Anabta-Tulkarm. However, according to earlier reports, this order had come in several days previously. 17:15 Another youth going to Tulkarm was turned back. After arguing, he tried to get around the checkpoint and was caught He was punished by detention. We reminded the commander that he was not allowed to use detention as a punishment. He released him, after a short time, but we advised him to wait – maybe another order would arrive permitting him to pass through. The first youth disappeared in the meantime, and his older friend left angrily. We called the DCO several times, and the hotline, since it turned out that there was no other passage through Al-Bidhan. Nablus was completed closed off. We emphasized that it was already evening, before a 2-day weekend, and people had to be allowed to go home, certainly if they were not suspicious. They couldn’t be locked in. We asked for an immediate answer, first of all to the checkpoint commander, then to us. R., claimed that if he received a clear answer, which he had also requested, would let them through, since he had no interest in making things difficult for them. 18:00 We waited until this hour. We left the checkpoint, but not before we called again and asked for answers…