Irtah, Jubara, Anabta, Monday, 5.12.05, PMObservers: Yona A, Tami C, Ziona S (reporting)Jubara14:30 – surprisingly, there is no special pressure, despite the terror strike that happened only three hours ago. Some ten people waiting at the entrance to the village. We entered and found that the hothouse, which has been wrecked for months, has been renewed. Apart from that, the village is deserted: one tiny shop – the only service available to the residents. A village under permanent siege. For their most basic needs they have to go through a checkpoint, their suppliers of services have difficulty in getting to them – if at all, farm workers going to the fields can only come back at limited opening hours. From the Children’s Gate we survey the beautiful landscape, but discover on the facing hill a long line of 15 vehicles snaking through the checkpoint of A-Ras. The children’s bus that was due at 13:30 has not yet arrived. The assumption is that it’s late because of that checkpoint.Anabta15:15 – we are surprised to discover that there are almost no vehicles at the junction, but then we find that the checkpoint has been diverted again to behind the notice “Palestinian Authority Area” – a mockery – some 200 meters behind the concrete barriers in the direction of Anabta.At the entry to Nablus there are nine vehicles. At the exit, it’s impossible to see the end of the line. The taxis are permitted to stand at a distance, so that pedestrians have to walk two kilometres till they reach a cab. The soldiers are preventing transit to Anabta almost absolutely.The orders that they received are – to allow in to Anabta only residents of Tulkarm, and to allow out only those who are not residents of Tulkarm, but even that does not always happen.A resident of Anabta whose land is close to the checkpoint is not allowed to enter. His brother, who also lives in Anabta, has come to collect him but the soldiers claim the vehicle is suspicious. He has already been waiting a few hours. Again and again he tries to explain to the soldier that he is a resident of Anabta and his land is here. Altogether, he has only come to work his land, but the soldier is adamant. There was a terror strike today and you cannot pass. “The strike pains me no less than you. I worked in Netanya. I know people there, and I weep over the murder, but why can’t I return home?” He tells us that he has been saying this for hours, without avail. Our intervention also doesn’t help. A private car with a sick woman, feeling very bad, coming from Ramallah Hospital – is sent back.15:30 – the team is relieved and a checkpoint commander from “Nachshon” arrives: we tell him about these cases, and he acts with noteworthy sensitivity. The farmer repeats his story and the pain caused him by the Netanya strike, and adds: “one soldier could with a few words cause him to lose his identification with the sorrow.: The commander responds: “If a soldier spoke not nicely to you – I apologize.” A rare bird indeed. “Now,” the farmer says to the commander, “you restore my faith.” With this attitude, the checkpoint commander transfers efficiently and politely all those held up for no reason. The problem is that he is the only one checking and he has to do it for both directions. And so the pace is slow and the line gets longer.Tami phones to the DCO and the war room to ask for reinforcements, but there’s no one to talk to. Operations promise to deal with it. 15:50 – we leave in the direction of Beit Iba. Two kilometres away, a rolling checkpoint – some ten vehicles waiting. We get into line, and pass after ten minutes.