Irtah, Jubara & Anabta, Tuesday AM 9 May 2006 Observers: Shlomit S., Ruti C., Elinoar B. (reporting) 06:15 Irtah The gate is closed, the facility deserted. Passover, Memorial Days, Independence Day have come and gone, but the place is still closed. 06:20 – 07:15 Jubara The whole checkpoint is deserted as well. The enormous parking lot is blocked by concrete barriers – the whole west bank is full of such ugly white elephants, testimony to millions and millions of wasted dollars. Abu Hatem complains nobody comes to buy his coffee. Our shekels seem to be his sole daily income. Up at gate 753 (22, formerly the Schoolchildren’s Gate) dozens of workers are checked thoroughly before entering the village. The school buses arrive, the soldier seems to detain them to spite us, we move back a little and he lets them pass. 08:45-09:45 AnabtaToday, as usual, only vehicles from Shufa, Saffarin & Beit Lid can come out. “And all pedestrians”, says the soldier. Inaccurate. Magnetic cards [evidence of security background clearance] of students are checked, and they are allowed to pass. A brother and sister, students in 2 different universities in Nablus, are detained. The woman’s card is OK, the man’s is faded (“laundered by mistake”). The card also looks somewhat different from other cards. We call the DCO [District Coordination Office of the IDF Civil Administration, that issues passage permits], and the answer is that the computer (“up-to-date”) shows that the young man is not allowed to travel here. Our impression is that this is a genuine misunderstanding, but nothing can be done at this time. We suggest he turn to the Palestinian DCO, but it is not clear if the co-operation of the 2 DCO’s still exists, since the Palestinian elections. Time here is what soldiers have tagged “a different time, their time is different”. This crucial resource is very cheap here. Four soldiers chat while a line of subdued people is waiting. “They are waiting because we are four”, says the commander enigmatically.