BEIT IBA, Monday 16 August 2004 AMObservers: Nina S., Naomi L., Rachel A., Nurit V. and Edna M. (reporting)colour=red>07:30 — Nablus was under closure because of “red alerts” [i.e. intelligence about an imminent terror attack] . There was a total ban on departures from Nablus. There was a long line of pedestrians and dense crowding at the entrance facing the [recently installed] revolving gates. It was hot and humid. Women, old people, sick people – all without exception were banned from going through the checkpoint . An endless line of vehicles wound back from the checkpoint towards Nablus (buses, trucks, private cars, all knew they would not be allowed through, but they all still waited). Suddenly we heard shouts and ran towards the scene in which soldiers and two Palestinians were involved. There were raised voices, shoves and, finally, the younger Palestinian was handcuffed and both the men’s ID cards were confiscated and they were sent to the detainees’ hut. We tried to mediate and find out what happened. The commander claimed that the Palestinians had begun shoving, while the Palestinians (the older one spoke Hebrew and was the uncle of the younger – they were both bus drivers who’d been waiting a long time on line ) claimed that it was the soldier who’d started shoving and kicking them, and that the younger one had tried to protect his uncle. We saw the soldier push them and try to prevent them from crossing on foot from the Nablus direction to the other side outside the line. We tried to talk to the commanders in charge of the soldiers here, but we didn’t have telephone numbers for this area. (The checkpoint commander claimed that only the battalion CO or deputy CO could influence his decisions). Meanwhile we gave water to the people in line and to the two detainees.The company CO, a lieutenant, arrived and calmed down the soldiers and together with A., the representative of the District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] let the humanitarian cases go through. A. released the handcuffed man, but the commander handcuffed him again.We tried to summon help from wherever possible and first of all to ensure that the sick went through. We described the situation to Dalia B., of the army’s “humanitarian” hotline. Within an hour, women with new-born infants were allowed out of the crowd, as was a heart patient on his way home after a check-up, a cancer sufferer in a pickup truck (not an ambulance) on his way to treatment, and several frail old people.The soldiers were tense and inflexible, their situation was really impossible. They were angry at us, and we tried to tell them that they should inform their commanding officers that their task was impossible, and that they should speak up now and not after they’d finished their army service, because they, like us, witness the inhumanity taking place around them. In the end, the two detainees were released and both sides were more conciliatory. The Palestinians thanked us profusely .At 09:00, all the people in line from Deir Sharaf, Sabastiya, Qusin and Ramin were allowed through. 10.00 – a line, not too long, of pedestrians wanting to go into Nablus. Anyone between 16-35 was turned back. The rest went through after their papers had been checked. They were not told that if they entered Nablus, they might not be able to leave because of the closure. When the DCO representative told them this, some decided to turn back.10:00 – We decided to leave, feeling helpless. We could solve no more problems today. The line of vehicles was still as long as it had been when we came and many people were trying to leave Nablus on foot and were squeezed in beside the gates.As we got into our car, taxi drivers approached us and complained that the previous day there’d been an unannounced road-block at the Shavei Shomron junction and they were not allowed home from the Qedumim side into Shavei Shomron till 22:00. One complained that he had a permit with a clause that said “encirclement – no passengers” which he didn’t understand. He said he was banned from taking passengers in his taxi.On the way back, at the concrete barriers near Anabta, there was another line of vehicles. We stopped and found that there too, because of the alert, all vehicles were being checked. We were urged to leave fast because it was dangerous, but it seemed that the fact that we stopped speeded up the line.