Irtah, Jubara, Ar-Ras, Anabta, Wednesday AM, June 21, 2006 Watchers: Nettie A., Rina T. (reporting) Irtah, 7:15-7:30 When we arrive, the last of the day laborers has left the facility, and now the families going to visit inmates in Israeli prisons [a regular arrangement with escorted transportation] are getting on their way. Shmulik, the person in charge from the Ministry of Defense, with whom we met last week, is waiting in the parking lot. He tells us that inspection began a little after five, and that over 700 laborers have gone through. One laborer complains that, even though he has arrived at the terminal at 5:40, he left only now (he left his home in the Nablus area at 4:30). The reason for the prolonged inspection is that he was given an additional inspection (“in-room inspection”), in which a group of people is locked up in a small room while their belongings are taken through an additional inspection, after they went through routine x-ray inspection. Stay in the “rooms” lasts a long time, some claim about an hour. Now he missed the transportation to his place of work. Shmulik claims that: a) he has no control over the method of inspection, and b) he allocates most inspectors to the routine inspections, to speed up the exit of the majority of laborers. We heard the complaints over the additional inspection from other laborers as well, and also read about it in the reports. MachsomWatch note: It would be good to check again with Shmulik, or maybe at the brigade, whether there’s anything to be done about it. Jubara, 7:30 At the entrance from Israel there’s a Border Police checkpoint where cars are inspected. Agricultural gate 753 There are two soldiers there. One of them tells us we are not allowed to be there, that “It says so in a police document.”When we replied that we know which document he’s talking about (Fadalon’s letter brought by the “Women in Blue and White” in Haifa – a grassroots nationalist group that specifically opposes MachsomWatch and makes visits to soldiers at the CPs), he muttered to his friend “I wish they’d die” (meaning us). Obviously, under these conditions of communication we thought it useless to ask them what they are doing there, after the checkpoint was unmanned during the last several weeks. Ar-Ras, 7:30-7:45 There’s sparse traffic of cars and pedestrians in both directions. There are no special restriction, either in terms of age or of area of residence. Inspections are done at a reasonable pace. One could speculate why there’s almost no traffic in Ar-Ras compared with the pressure in Anabta. Perhaps because of the terrible road leading to Tulkarm. We met four volunteers from the global council of churches who are also doing watches at checkpoints and reporting. It is unclear through what medium of communication. Anabta, 8:00-8:15 Few vehicles and people, even though the queue from the Tulkarm direction grows longer by the minute and reaches 12. One soldier inspects each side. The checkpoint commander says that the “Women in Blue and White” are much nicer than we are: they bring sweets while we “breathe down their necks.” We go on to Beit Iba (See separate report under Nablus), and came through Anabta on our return route. Anabta, 10:45-11:15 A long line of cars waiting at the exit from Tulkarm. Even as we were there, the number rose from 15 to more than 20. A minibus is detained for over 20 minutes. The ID of one of the passengers is checked on the phone. Inside there’s a month-old baby, screaming. No air conditioning and no water. It’s a hot day. The soldier repeats his phone call and requests an answer. The driver proposes leaving the ID holder there and driving away. The checkpoint commander says that it’s prohibited and unleashes his anger on us. In the meantime, the entire line of vehicles is delayed and prolonged. After a while the checkpoint commander starts inspecting vehicles that bypass the minibus. In 6 minutes 3 cars are inspected. A taxi driver skips the queue — there’s a female student inside who has an exam at the university in a quarter of an hour. The commander yells at him, but finally relents. And I always ask myself what would have happened had I not been standing there, taking notes. I pull my camera out to take a picture of the screaming baby, and right then he is released. And during all this time there are a few military vehicles standing there (a jeep, a humvee), we see a sergeant major and a lieutenant there, and no one tries to help to speed the inspection up; on the contrary, they keep the few soldiers busy.