BEIT IBA, Sunday 8 August 2004 PMObservers:Yonat B., Shelly M. (reporting ) A taxi driver with a permit to drive from Tulkarm to Nablus told us that he had stopped coming to Beit Iba after the Israel army [recently] began the policy of confiscating taxi drivers’ car keys. But four days ago, a woman from Machsomwatch had told him that the confiscations had been discontinued, and that all the problems had been solved [as indeed then appeared to be the case: the army subsequently brought in a new regulation]. “If she hadn’t said so, I wouldn’t have come,” he told us. But when he did come his taxi was confiscated. (More on the taxi drivers below). The checkpoint was full of detained students. The soldiers told us there was a warning of a terrorist coming from An-Najah University, and therefore all students were being checked [ the ID details of detained persons , typically men aged from 16 to 30, are relayed by the checkpoint soldiers to the General Security Services (GSS) – aka the Shabak or the Shin Bet – for cross-checking against a central list of security suspects. This is a cumbersome procedure that can take a very long time, especially if the checkpoint soldiers wait to accumulate a number of ID cards before relaying the details, and if they wait to get back a similar number of answers before they release the detainees at the end of the check; throughout this time, detainees are virtual prisoners at the checkpoint because the soldiers hold their ID cards until they get GSS clearance]. Finally the wanted student was found (at 15:15). He was an 18-year-old boy who dreams of studying in Russia. He was put into in the holding cell, and we gave him some water, but soon after he was taken away by car. After they found him, the soldiers let everyone go except for the following: two couples, each of whom had a baby, wanting to go to Deir Sharaf — the men were detained ; a 16-year-old girl, with her 10-year-old sister, whose name was identical to that of a wanted woman — she was familiar with the problem: “It is because of my name…”; and, finally, three more students. All of them were released to go on their way by 16:15 (a half- hour wait for the girls and the families and an hour for the students)By 16:25 there were four new detainees who were released half-an-hour later. One of them was a man called B., who was asked by the soldiers to give them his phone number. I asked him what the problem was and he whispered something about “Captain Geva”; shaking with fear as he gave them his number, he was told to meet Captain Geva tomorrow in the Tulkarm District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) [ the army section that handles civilian matters]. I talked to him next day (Monday) and he told me that he was being interrogated. He said he wasn’t being threatened or violently treated, but he swore that he would never go back to Nablus under any circumstances. I asked him to call me if they called him again. Detainees came and went all the time, but none were held for more than an hour and the officer was usually pleasant and considerate. When we are about to return home we meet the taxi drivers. They told us that an Israel army Hummer had come by at 09:00 and driven out all the drivers who didn’t live close to Nablus. The driver who told me this had a valid permit but had been afraid to show it to the soldiers for fear it might be destroyed.Other drivers said they’d been detained together with 25 more people (drivers and passengers) from 12:30 to 17:30 at Shavei Shomron. The whole time the soldiers had been rude and violent. Other drivers were waiting for a Hummer whose crew had taken their ID cards from them at 16:00 and driven away without saying anything. We talked to the checkpoint commander and soon the Hummer returned with the ID cards . The soldiers in the vehicle were very rude, and it was impossible to get a reasonable answer out of them. The drivers had no idea why their taxis had been confiscated. When they got back their ID cards, they went home, but they’d all lost a day’s work.