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Beit Iba, Shave Shomron, Tue 10.3.09, Afternoon

Place: Beit Iba Shave Shomron Checkpoint
Observers: Amit Y., Yael S. (reporting), Translator: Charles K.
Mar-10-2009
| Afternoon
 

15:30  We see a checkpoint coming into existence after the turn from Route 57 toward Beit Iba:  A moveable metal bar, an inspection booth.

 

Shave Shomron

The soldiers stop the cars and interrogate.  I ask whether there isn’t supposed to be free passage here.  The soldier replies, confidently, yes, there’s free passage; there are random checks.

“Free” has various meanings.

A detained vehicle was parked on the side.  It turns out that it belongs to the Palestinian police.  The soldiers were ordered to stop it because it drove on an Israeli route.  It was released.

 

16:00  Beit Iba.

The shed is empty, no pedestrians.

The soldiers tell us that the checkpoint will close on Friday, and will be relocated at the entrance to Deir Sharaf.  We don’t understand; after the huge investment in constructing a new checkpoint, it’s being eliminated.  According to the DCO representative, the reason is to allow free passage from Deir Sharaf to Nablus.


16:45  Buses directed to a side road, their passengers have to get out, documents inspected.  The commander has a list of three wanted persons; he checks that they aren’t among the passengers and release the bus.

Free entry to Nablus. There are18 vehicles in line at the exit from Nablus, in two lanes.  The humanitarian line is short.  The regular line is long.

 

17:20  We stop at the grocery store to say goodbye to Jamal.   Maybe next time we won’t be able to go through the checkpoint to visit him?!  He tells us about the theft of lands to construct the previous checkpoint and apparently for the new one as well.

We pass by the moveable metal bar and wonder how, on this narrow road, there will be room for soldiers to stand and check vehicles.  Or perhaps entry will be free?

 

  • Beit Iba

    See all reports for this place
    • A perimeter checkpoint west of the city of Nablus. Operated from 2001 to 2009 as one of the four permanent checkpoints closing on Nablus: Beit Furik and Awarta to the east and Hawara to the south. A pedestrian-only checkpoint, where MachsomWatch volunteers were present daily for several hours in the morning and afternoon to document the thousands of Palestinians waiting for hours in long queues with no shelter in the heat or rain, to leave the district city for anywhere else in the West Bank. From March 2009, as part of the easing of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, it was abolished, without a trace, and without any adverse change in the security situation.  
      Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
      Jun-4-2014
      Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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  • Shave Shomron Checkpoint

    See all reports for this place
    • The checkpoint is on Route 60 (the main road to the northern West Bank), opposite settlement. Has been blocked to Palestinians since disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria.
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