Beit Iba, Thu 5.6.08, Morning
8:15
Swift passage at the exit. No vehicles in line.
At the exit, the inspection includes taking off belts, picking up shirts and sometimes taking off shoes, but there aren't many people going out. There are 3 inspectors who are pretty bored and sometimes have nothing to do.
Two soldiers go out toward the taxi dreivers who are standing almost at the checkpoint on the Nablus side. The drivers move away in order to be at the distance which is usually required by the soldiers. Nevertheless, the soldiers go up to them and talk with them – looks like an "educational" discussion, and then come back.
The inspection at the entrance is very slow; everyone, including women and the elderly are inspected against a list in the hands of the only soldier who is on duty. From 8:45, the lines get longer. Sometimes the checkpoint commander joins in the inspection; a lot of people come up on the computer, but no one is detained.
It is not clear why, at Huwarra, the entrance to the city is free and here they are so careful. Anyone who doesn't want to be caught can just go over to the checkpoint at Asira or Huwarra, why should they stand here? The soldiers do not seem to have any discretion about who is inspected, even 80 year olds are checked against a printed list.
At a certain point, the checkpoint commander opens a line for women, but an elderly man who goes into it is sent back to the general line. It seems that the instructions concerning the "humanitarian" line have not reached here. On the other hand, there is a "humanitarian" line for women and older men at the exit. Why? That is how it is. Very few people at the exit and the soldier inspecting there waits until people come, instead of joining the inspection of those entering.
Beit Iba
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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.
Neta EfroniJun-4-2014Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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