Beit Iba, Tue 4.11.08, Morning
Routine and quiet again at the checkpoint. Everyone
wanting to enter Nablus
is checked. No lines, just high wire fences. Vehicles are also checked, and
continue. The system of traffic lights and mechanical arms resemble useless
but threatening decorations.
At 7:30 – a break. Everyone stands still. It’s a
little reminiscent of when people stand at attention when the Memorial Day
siren sounds. No one’s walking or riding, it’s very quiet, soldiers talk
quietly to each other. After ten minutes pass, life at the checkpoint returns to
normal, with lines of 50 people and 10 cars to enter Nablus.
The line of people on foot evaporates quickly, people
entering without being checked.
We heard the DCO representative tell the checkpoint
commander that it wasn’t a good time for the drill he held, and was told “Sure,
I’ll ask you when to hold it.”
When we left things were the same as they were upon
our arrival: routine and quiet. No lines. High wire fences.
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.
Jun-4-2014Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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