Jubara, Tuesday, 2.8.05, AMObservers: Ruti C, Shlomit S, Maya M, Elinoar B (reporting)No dramas today, just misery.06:15-07:30 and again 09:00-10:00Closure is still on, workers are not allowed in Israel. Early in the morning many vehicles as well as pedestrians are queuing-up to exit Tulkarm. The barrier on the road from Anabta is still up, so all vehicles must exit through here. A taxi driver says he’s been waiting for half an hour, but later in the morning it’s going to take much longer. All the road works and massive building in the area didn’t extend to building a decent road going into Tulkarm – the dirt road, “dust road” would be more appropriate – is narrow, winding, bumpy and full of pits. We watched a bus driver manoeuvre his bus into the road for ten minutes or more – not an easy feat. Despite there closure there is favouritism: an Israeli couple come to fetch their worker, and drive away with him. 09:00-10:00 – back in Jubara. A Palestinian taxi stands on the north side of the checkpoint. The driver tells us that an hour and a half before the commander (a tough sergeant) confiscated his keys after catching him driving with an Israeli-Palestinian family in his taxi. We try to convince him to let the man go, confiscating keys is forbidden, detaining people as punishment is forbidden, it is not a taxi-driver’s duty to check his passengers’ IDs – all in vain. After a few futile attempts to reach the area commander we call the army Humanitarian Hotline, with or without inverted commas. Semion promises to take care of the matter and call me back. By that time we had to leave. He didn’t. Behind the fence of the village a large family from Qalansuwa – young and old, including a newborn baby – ask to be let into Tulkarm, an uncle, the mother’s brother (she too is present) is visiting from Canada. They are not allowed in, he is not allowed to enter Israel (he is not a Canadian citizen and the DCO wouldn’t give him a permit). Doesn’t he know there’s closure? The uncle is leaving tomorrow and they are all extremely agitated. The nephew tells the soldiers what he thinks. What is the female MP doing there? “she should be home taking care of her children”. We try to think of rather fantastic solutions such as arranging a meeting right here on both sides of the checkpoint. It is too late: we watch the family retreat up the hill to the big parking lot. The closure will continue, I suppose, till after the disengagement, but for all practical purposes it will go on after that. People will continue to plod along carrying their suitcases and packages and babies from taxi to waiting taxi on the other side of the checkpoint.