BEIT IBA, Thursday 15 July 2004 PMNili, Bonnie R., Ofra (reporting) colour=red>15:00 — We arrived at Beit Iba . Jit crossroads was open. It was a hot July day , but only those standing in line at the exit from Nablus enjoyed some degree of shade. The reconstructed checkpoint was very active. Some 40 (!) detainees sat, as they’d been ordered to, in the minimal shade provided by the concrete slabs they leaned against. Most were students from An-Najah University who’d finished their exams and wanted to leave Nablus and go about their business. But today is Thursday and the army [has an arrangement allowing them ] to travel on Saturdays and Wednesdays only [since Friday is the Moslem day of rest, the study week at Palestinian universities runs from Saturday to Wednesday] . The checkpoint commander cited numerous warnings [of likely terrorist activity] as the reason so many have been detained for examination of their documents [the ID details are relayed to the General Security Services ( GSS, also known, from the Hebrew acronym, as the Shabak or Shin Bet) where they are cross-checked against a central list of security suspects. The results are then relayed back to the checkpoint The procedure can take a considerable length of time, during which the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint since the soldiers there hold their ID cards until clearance is received. Sometimes, soldiers only relay details to the GSS when they have a batch of several ID cards, thus prolonging the process still further]. He said that none had waited more than two hours. The commanders behaved in a gentlemanly fashion — they were polite, shook our hands, introduced themselves by name but insisted we come to them with questions and refrain from speaking to the soldiers.The western and eastern checkpoints have been limited to one line each so that the soldiers can move from one side to the other as needed. There was little traffic and the soldiers, on the whole, behaved correctly but showed no flexibility. No leeway was given and many were sent to wait for two to three hours in the shade of the concrete while their ID details were checked. There were enough soldiers on duty; and they were not under pressure or irritated. Our main efforts were directed at pestering the commanders to release detainees. They were invariably polite, had just phoned and would soon call again to headquarters From time to time, the soldiers allowed the detainees to fill their bottles with water from a nearby pipe.The number of detainees dropped to about 25 where it remained more or less stable.The soldiers offered the students the option of returning to Nablus or remaining in the shade awaiting [security clearance and] release. Some did indeed return to Nablus.A taxi driver who said he’d brought a woman in labour to the checkpoint at 14:30, and a bus driver , who picked up an old man near the kiosk at the same time, were detained and had their keys taken by the soldiers. The commander explained that the two had crossed a line beyond which they are not permitted to drive .He insisted that he wasn’t punishing them or taking revenge or educating them — he was simply warning them not to cross the line again. According to “accepted ” norms [of very doubtful legal validity] he could detain them for up to four hours and he intended to follow the “rules”.At 16:00 a worried father approached us at the checkpoint and asked for our help. He and his family had returned on a bus from a condolence visit to Qalqiliya where his sister had died. For some reason , soldiers who stopped the bus at Funduk (a village nearby) had detained his fifteen-and-a-half-year-old son and told the father he could find his son at Beit Iba. Just as we started to make inquiries, the son appeared looking flushed and on the verge of tears, with marks on his wrists from being bound. With him was another teenager with similar marks on his wrists but he seemed to take it in his stride and continued on his way. The details of this story remained unclear.At 17:45, when we left the checkpoint, there were still about 20 detainees waiting for clearance. On the way to Huwwara to pick up the second Machsomwatch group we passed an unannounced checkpoint opposite Asira Ash- Shamaliya.