BEIT IBA, Wednesday 7 July 2004 PM Observers: Dafna B., Elat B., Alonah C., Meri K., DeborahL. (reporting) , and a guest, Christopher (a filmmaker) We arrived at 14:00. There were 10 vehicles waiting to enter Nablus, and six on the line leaving the city; there were no pedestrians entering and about 100 leaving . Some 30 detainees were waiting to have their ID details checked, some claimed to have been there for four hours. It was extremely hot and there was no shade. The situationof those waiting to leave Nablus was especially difficult. The sun was hot, but if they moved towards what little shade there was, the soldiers shouted at them to move back because they were out of line. There was, at first, no special line for woman and children or older and younger men. There was just a huge crowd of people wanting to pass. The soldierswere stressed out over the situation and were vulgar and belligerent. A woman soldier in particular was very offensive. When the checkpoint was closed for a few minutes one of the soldiers opened a window of their hut and stuckhis tongue out. One man fainted on the line and his nose started to bleed. Someone helped him, and, as he moved away from the checkpoint, a soldier shoutedafter him, accusing him of pretending to faint to avoid showing hispapers. However, he returned to show them and all was in order. We made somephone calls to the army’s “humanitarian” hotline and to the local District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters and usually has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] and suggestedthey send some DCO soldiers to help out. They came within the hour andthe lines started to move. When they left, however, these same DCO soldiersconfronted the line that still remained and shouted at and pushed the peopleback in a very threatening manner, warning them not to go past the line.Later, when we spoke to O., the officer at the checkpoint, we complainedabout the soldier who had stuck out his tongue. He said he had talked tohim. In general it was helpful to turn to O. when we wanted to solve variousproblems that arose. He seemed very willing to hear what we had to say andto relate directly to it. By 15:30 to 16:00, things had cleared up. Thesoldiers on duty were quieter. Although the detainees seemed to have to waitfor between an hour to two while we were there, some ID cards were given back about every half-hour [ID cards of detainees are held by the checkpoint soldiers while the General Security Services (GSS or, from the Hebrew acronym, Shabak or Shin Bet) run a security check on the details which have been phoned in by the checkpoint staff. As the security status of each detainee is relayed back to the checkpoint, the cards are returned] . The soldiers seemed to keep things moving in this respect and we, of course, played our part by naggingabout it. By the time we left, there were only eight detainees, although new ones were added throughout our stay at the checkpoint. Some troubling incidents: The soldiers found a green scarf — perhaps an arm-band or head-band — with an inscription in Arabic; translated for the soldiers, it apparently read :”There is only one Allah”, or something similar to that effect. The soldiers became very worked up and asked the detainees who owned it . One of the detainees admitted that it was his and three soldiers immediately ran over to him as if they were about to attack him. Was he a Hamas sympathizer, they kept asking [Hamas is a radical nationalist-religious Islamic organization, whose members are in opposition to main-stream secular Palestinian groups headed by Yasser Arafat]. “Are you sure you’re not a Hamas man ? Are you lying?” one of them demanded. The man was literally shaking all over. Thesoldier saw that, and had the grace to move away, saying: “You don’t have tohave an epileptic fit.” It was frightening to see, once again, the extent of the power that’s been given to the soldiers and how careless they can be in using it.Another detainee, who had special permission to go to the hospital because ofstomach problems, was being held because the permission was for yesterday. He had indeed gone yesterday but the doctors had told him to return again today. Hetold Elat the story of how two weeks ago his handicapped brother wassitting in a cafe in Jenin when soldiers burst in and shot him.