Beit Iba and surroundings, Wednesday,10.5.2006, PMDebra, Eilat (reporting)Natanya translating. 13.00 Opposite the entrance to the village of Azzun is a Hummer. 13.15 Twenty nine cars from east to west and north. The soldiers are having a lunch break, 4 soldiers, 2 checkers. “I am called sergeant and get away behind the cement blocks.” He will not tell us what the orders of the day are and the drivers say that everyone passed after being checked. The 9th and 10th drivers say they have been in the queue for an hour and a half. The lunch break ends and the defender of the fatherland renews . “One by one” The cars stays behind while passengers advance 30 meters to the checking point. “One by one.” “Go back. What is so complicated? What is not clear?” 14.20 A driver who arrives after having passed successfully all the obstacles is asked by the woman soldier how long he waited. “Two hours” he replies “Don’t you know?” “I know “she replies “And I couldn’t care less.” 14.30 A bus which was in the 26th place arrives. We leave our phone number and depart.14.36 Road 60 from north to south next t the gas station opposite the industrial area of Kedumim. One soldier guarding, three checking. 13 cars waiting. The commander says those between the ages of 15-30 from Tulkarm and Jenin cannot pass. 5 enormous trucks with solar. Later we find that there is no gasoline at the Palestinian gas stations on the West Bank. The Russian Jew who arrives with a small tank of “Delek” explains that only the Arabs have no gasoline. At the gas stations owned by Israelis there is gas. Afterwards the civil administrator to whom we are told to approach through the humanitarian centre says that it is not in the hands of the army but is purely a business matter. The company “Dor” will no longer supply gas as they have not been paid. And the army is truly sorry and is really trying to renew the supply of gasoline, gas for cooking, flour and other basic necessities. But there is a limit to how much they can help.” And I nearly burst into tears in sympathy. 15.00 back to crossroads of Jit. A police van is fining two Palestinians. One had a small child without a safety chair and the truck driver was not using a safety belt. 20 cars wait. The one driver to whom I had given my phone number is now 3rd in line. He has been waiting for an hour and a half. We learn from him why there is a line of trucks….there is only gasoline at that gas station. “Dor” does not want to bring gasoline to the Hamas. There is no gasoline in the entire West Bank. 15.14 Back to the checkpoint on road 60. A police van is giving out fines here too. Making money. 19 cars in lines. The solar at the temporary gas station is finished. A line of trucks waiting and two Bedouin come from below with jerrycans on two two donkeys. A taxi with 7 students all from Jayyus. The car is taken apart and everything is being checked because the driver tried to bypass the line. Another taxi is detained at the side and inside a student from Jenin. We do not know what happened but the taxi went on without him and he disappeared. 15.48 A very elegantly dressed man in a posh new car is detained because he tried to bypass that line. An interesting conversation. He has a permit to drive anywhere he wants in Israel, lives in Ramallah and is now detained. Debra goes to the commander to find out what is happening and it turns out that his ID is in the pocket of one of the soldiers and the commander knew nothing about this. After the elegant gentleman was given a lesson in the way of the land he was allowed to continue. 16.02 24 cars in line. 16.08 Before Deir Sharif. A police van continues to add to the treasury of the democratic land of Israel. The policeman shows me the back tyres which are worn out and explains to me how much the police care for the safety and health of the Palestinians and he is fined 250 shekel in place of 1000. He asks us if we know where we are driving and if we think it is the correct thing to be doing. 16.21 Shave Shomron. The morning shift said that the checkpoint had been removed and that everyone could travel freely but now it is back and no one can enter or leave except a taxi with the employees of the civil administration who are digging at Mishor Adumim and live in Sebastiya. The soldier says that there is also no humanitarian passing. 16.39 Beit Iba. Second lieutenant present and no DCO representative. The operator of the taxi line says that for the pass two days no one has been allowed to enter Nablus. The soldiers say that a vehicle with a pass can do so but the passengers have to pass on foot. We saw few cars and only trucks. Two soldiers check those going in and two check those leaving. The soldier says “Only those over 30 can come or go. But that is the dry law and students have to go home and we only stop those who look suspicious.” What a humane occupation. There are about 100 in the humanitarian line and therefore it is hard to know how long people wait but we are told an hour and a half. One soldier keeps order, one checks parcels, two checked those leaving and one those entering Nablus. There is pressure and the soldiers are tense. Young men stand behind the far turnstile. Most of the time women and elderly men are allowed to pass on the side. The orders change from minute to minute. Sometimes they are checked and sometimes not. 5 people are detained. ONE IS HANDCUFFED WITH HIS HANDS BEHIND HIM …the handcuffs are very tight to the bone, his hands are blue and black. His eyes are blindfolded. Some of the people say he is a DARSHAN, we do not know what this is but he has just left an Israeli prison. Afterwards when he is freed we see a 17, 18 year old boy still with his adolescent pimples…how dangerous can he be. We photographed the way he was bound and also his hands when freed. Another detainee, also handcuffed but not tightly and not blindfolded. He is a student from Tulkarm at the end of his studies as chemist. He is freed before we leave. 16.49 We phone the Humanitarian centre about the two detainees and the way they are handcuffed and phone again at 17.0017.01 Another detainee had tried to get to the head of the line to speak to the commander but was prevented from doing so by a soldier who kept pushing him back by hand and weapon. He had been holding the ID of his sister and after being detained, vented all his anger and insult on us. Two people from Qusin in a car want to return to Nablus and the commander orders them to leave. A driver who had an accident asks for permission to enter Beit Iba on the eastern side of the checkpoint so as to have the car fixed and is told by the commander to go to Al Funduq and when the Palestinian says there is no garage there he is once more told to get out of the way. 17.11 Another three detainees who caused a disturbance. At 17.15 the Darshan is freed and A. from the humanitarian centre who name and number I now have tells us he saw to it. 17.28 The car of a French humanitarian organization going to Azzun is detained and has been for an hour. They say that each day they pass with a permit but today …no. We phone the DCO who say they are dealing with this and at 17.38 they are let through. We phone about detainees who suddenly disappear leaving 6 in the enclosure. Another quarter of an hour and three more are free leaving one of the veterans who is still bound. One of the detainees leaves the enclosure and refuses to go back until he is told why he is detained. The soldier says that his punishment will only begin when he goes back in. 18.29 We phone Assaf about this detention which is to punish them and not to check anything. 18.40 I took my courage in my hands and as we wanted to leave I approached the detainees to give them my phone number. “Closed army area” and the soldiers arrived quickly to chase me away and the reaction: he took the note and threw it in my face. To Debra he said in English “Get away from here, I do not want to see you.” The other notes were also torn up and then we had an interesting conversation with the soldiers about “a closed army area’. When we asked what civilians are doing in this closed army area we are told “They are not civilians. They are Palestinians.” 18.44 All the detainees are freed. 19.05 A driver from Qusin: entrance and exit from Qusin are only through Beit Iba. For a year the residents of Qusin have been allowed to enter Nablus only with an ID and no special permit needed. But now he wants to leave Nablus in his car on his way home and this is not allowed. A call to the DCO does not help. A resident of Kafr Qaddum. A relative of his, a student from Al Nagah went into Nablus in the morning and was arrested at Beit Iba and now he has disappeared and they do not know what has become of him. I gave him my phone number and that of the Moked. 19.12 Deir Sharaf. A police van stops a taxi. 19.17Checkpoint road 60 next to the gas station. Two cars in line. At Jit a checkpoint north to south 5 cars and east to west 19 and we are told of a delay of two hours. A taxi with 4 young men from Ramallah has been detained for an hour. One says 5 minutes, the other half an hour. We exchanged telephones and they were freed at 20.3819.45 At the entrance to Azzun from the west 2 jeeps and a soldier with his weapon pointed at the cars on the other side of the road. 19.50 Nebi Elias. A police van.