Beit Iba – Jit Junction, Wednesday, 19.10.05, PMObservers: Raya Y., Dorit H. (reporting)14:30-17:00In general: Very little traffic or either vehicles or pedestrians. The collective punishment imposed on the West Bank, in the form of new restrictions on mobility, is well-known, and the feeling of suffocation is in the air.The soldiers don’t speak with us, but A., the DCO representative, was at the checkpoint all the time, and is polite and helpful. The traffic flows in both directions with no problems. At a certain point, we saw a police vehicle which arrived at the checkpoint, stayed 10 minutes at the vehicle inspection station, and went on its way. A. explained that there is a desire to reach the state that the police will patrol in the area in order to shorten the time needed in case it is necessary for the police to be called in.14:30At the entrance to Nablus there are 7 vehicles, about 15 in line at the exit. Very thorough inspections, but done efficiently and quickly, so that the line of vehicles entering Nablus is empty. The taxi drivers, tense and irritable, wait for passengers who do not materialize. Because of the new restrictions on mobility, they have almost no work and the pressure to make a living weighs heavily on everyone.Also at the checkpoint for pedestrians there is almost no traffic. Those leaving Nablus, mainly students, are checked carefully – packages are opened and their contents spread out in front of everyone; the soldiers carefully look through every notebook and book of the students for inciting materials (whether or not they understand Arabic). Since the traffic is light, and the 2 turnstiles are not connected to the electricity, the passage is quick. Most of those entering Nablus are not even checked.16:16 – Jit JunctionA flying checkpoint. 5 large taxis are waiting at the side of the road, the passengers waiting outside, very angry. They run towards us irritably, saying that the IDs had been from them for inspection an hour ago and they are still waiting. We recognized a great many of the passengers from the Beit Iba checkpoint which we left a few minutes ago. The Palestinians say that the soldiers are not willing to talk with them; they just told them that their IDs were sent for inspection and, until they have finished with them, they will not release them. The Ramadan fast will be over at 17:05, they left Beit Iba at 15:00, and they want to get home to break the fast. High level of anger. One of the Palestinians, a man of about 50, comes over and tells us, angrily, that this is “vengeance”, that there is no reason for them to detain them like this after they have already passed through inspection at Beit Iba. He keeps on saying “This is just vengeance!” We decide to speak with the soldiers and, at the same time, to make some phone calls to get things moving. I try to speak with the soldiers, but they are also irritable and they have no answers other than “these are the orders”, the IDs are being checked,” “between Beit Iba and here other passengers could have joined them on the way”, “The commander is on his way here, you can talk to him”, “You could leave”, “It won’t do you any good to stand here”, etc.On the hill next to the checkpoint, we see a small military “hut” and 2 soldiers standing and observing the junction. Raya calls the DCO – no one answers. Afterward, she succeeds in getting hold of the IDF spokesman for the unit that is carrying out the inspection; she calls the DCO again – this time, a soldier named A. answers, who also says he will look into it. Time passes, no one gets back to us. Raya calls the clerk in charge of the unit and complains that an hour and a half has already gone by and the people are still waiting here, so we will have to call the media since nothing is helping. At this point, the clerk transfers the conversation to the “operational headquarters” and they also say that they will check. Then, a few minutes later, at 16:55, the soldier makes a sign to us to indicate that everything is over. And indeed, a second soldier approaches the Palestinians with a pile of documents in his hand, the returning IDs. The Palestinians thank us and go off; the checkpoint also closes and, within seconds, the junction is empty as though there had never been a checkpoint there. We also leave.