BEIT IBA , Sunday 27 June 2004 PM Ruthy, Neomi L.(reporting) colour = red>We encountered no unannounced roadblocks on our way to Beit Iba.The checkpoint had been closed for an hour after the soldiers caught someone trying to smuggle through ammunition using a donkey-cart. Dozens of people had been standing there stewing in the blazing sun and breathing in the smell of the new tar being spread on the road. We gave them water and listened to their complaints. Fifteen minutes after we arrived, the soldiers opened the checkpoint again. On the side leading to Nablus, they worked fast and efficiently , but on the opposite side they gave the Palestinians “drill” exercises: “Move here!” “Move there!” “Straighten the line!” We talked to the officer and soon the line disappeared. An elderly [Israeli Arab] woman tried to leave Nablus after visiting her sick mother there together with one of her sons. But when she showed her Israeli ID card at the checkpoint, the soldier refused to pass her through, and so we called H. , the area commander, who happened to be there on a visit because of the ammunition that had been found, and he passed her through without any ado. On the detainees’ side were some students trying to get to Nablus to take part in a university summer course. After having their ID cards checked , they were sent home; one, however, insisted: the course began tomorrow and he needed to be there. We argued, too, on his behalf and after a lot more lobbying and wrangling the soldier finally let him enter. We kept nagging O. about the 15 detainees: the system of waiting until the soldiers hold several ID cards before they pass on the details so that the General Security Services [GSS, or, from the Hebrew acronym, the Shabak or Shin Bet] can cross- check the detainees’ identities [against a central list of security suspects] is something incomprehensible . He explained (again) that they could not give the GSS one I D card at a time, and that the GSS then also gives all the answers at once, and that is why the detainees have to wait so long. A man carrying a big box asked the soldiers to see that it and its contents were conveyed to the Rosh Ha’Ayin police [in Israel]. Inside the box were piles of bullet-proof police vests, all sewn in Nablus and proudly bearing the Israel Police name and logo ! The soldiers made him sit on his box and wouldn’t let him pass, although the man said that he’d been doing this for a long time and that the Israeli Police was waiting for him and knew him. But the insisted: he was carrying “merchandise” and “merchandise” doesn’t go through this checkpoint: it has to be checked out. When we left he was still sitting there waiting for the soldiers to get answers. Due to the road-building, trucks could not pass. One bus that needed to go through was held up for three hours, according to the driver, before eventually going through because we appealed to the officer. Ambulances and medical crews did, however, go through.. A truck loaded with cabbages tried to get through to travel to Awarta (under curfew until Tuesday). The driver waited for five hours begging the soldiers to let him through– but cabbage is not a “humanitarian” matter, even if it would all go rotten before Tuesday. We called the officer, he said he would refer the matter to the District Co-ordinating Office (DC0) [the army section that handles civilian matters], but he got no answer to his phone calls.