Beit Iba. Monday, 20.3.2006,PM Observers: Niva D. Irit. Yona A. (reporting)Natanya translating. Beit Iba.15.55 We park next to the carpentry shop and went to the other side of the checkpoint. An elderly man tells us in excellent Hebrew that at 7.30 that morning he had been a witness to the beating of a Palestinian youth by soldiers at the checkpoint. The young man had arrived at the checkpoint with a suitcase which had been checked by a soldier and then a porter helped him to carry it out. Another soldier ran after him and ordered him to stop. The young man said that he had been checked and told to go on but the soldier insisted he stop and kicked him. The young man hit the soldier back and then other soldiers came and laid him down, hit him and handcuffed him until he should be taken away. We asked the DCO representative if he had heard of the incident. He claimed that there had been a clash between a soldier and a Palestinian and that the latter had pushed the soldier and tried to take his gun from him and that the soldiers had acted in accordance with this. He asked the commander if he wanted to reply to this and the latter said no. Few people in either direction. The soldiers are polite and the checking is carried out quietly. Some cars in both directions. 16.15 A taxi driver who speaks Hebrew comes on foot to speak to the DCO. He shows him all his permits and asks for his help. The soldier tells the DCO that evidently he is not allowed to pass because of his goods. The DCO representative goes to speak to the soldier to see if he can help and after 10 minutes he is allowed to go through. The DCO explains to us that at Awarta there is a back to back passage but he managed to help the man. 16.30 A soldier checking those going in to Nablus asks what we are writing about them and when I say that I write what I see he tells us that the previous day there were many more pedestrians and there were warnings that a terrorist might get to the checkpoint. They were very careful but he got through at another place. 17.00 We leave glad to find that there is no one at Shave Shomron but at the Jit junction a long line of cars is being checked on their way south. Cars from the east are also being checked. At the checkpoint north of Qalqiliya at the entrance to Israel are a few long lines of cars. The privileged, that is the Jews, pass on the left exchanging a few words with the soldiers while the Palestinians wait in patience. The end of a regular exhausting day.