Beit Iba, Thursday, September 9, PMObservers: Shalva C., Yael A., Roni K., (reporting)Guest: Ilana G., peace activist, a US resident*At this shift, we had to be in both Beit Iba and Huwwara. We stayed at Huwwara at first, for about 3 hours.2:00 When we arrived at the main checkpoint, scores of people were waiting, pressed against each other in the dense line. Nearby, in the shade, about 15 detainees, a group of young women among them, were waiting, but soon enough they were released.At some point, a woman in the midst of the crowd was fainting. The soldiers called the Palestinian emergency services, and carried on a stretcher she was taken to a hospital in Nablus.Not far from the main checkpoint, to the south, on the road coming from Sera, a new, improvised checkpoint (new at least for us) had been installed. About 100 people were queuing there for two hours, in the heat, when we arrived. The two soldiers in charge supervised the long line of cars at the entrance to the whole complex at the same time. They did it slowly and harshly in both cases. They refused to do anything with us: “We have an order not to talk to you,” they said. Among the people coming from Sera was a female doctor seated in her car (clearly identified as vehicle of the Palestinian medical services). As she told us, she regularly passed here on duty to Sera and other villages, but this was the first time she was stopped and delayed. Moreover, just before that she had passed at another checkpoint with no trouble at all. Our attempts to communicate with the soldiers on her behalf were to no avail (see above). Eventually, just as we decided to call Doctors for Human Rights, the soldiers let her go. This whole frustrating episode lasted for about an hour, partly before we arrived.At some stage, a big group of people heading in the opposite direction, back to Sera, started to be forming. The soldiers were not prepared for this (that is, of having another line, in the opposite direction), and the people kept waiting and waiting, until an officer (of the DCO, as it turned out) who was passing by, solved this organizational “problem” and arranged for them to pass quickly. That was not exactly the case for a couple now residing in the States, on a visit to Sera. They had Palestinian documents and an American passport. On our advice – we thought it could help – they presented the soldiers also with their American passport. That caused further complication as the soldiers seemed perplexed. Luckily, we remembered one of the recent e-mails in which R of the DCO was cited on this matter (of foreigners on a visit of relatives). We mentioned his name and that solved the problem, to our relief.The long line of cars at the entrance included some vehicles of the Palestinian medical services, two (empty) ambulances that waited for 30 minutes and a UN car. Its Palestinian driver was ordered to go back to the end of the line. “He was insolent,” the soldiers told us.We left Beit Iba for Hawara at about 4:00, regretting to do so given the big crowdsand the circumstances.