MachsomWatchers: D.M., H.A., N.L., E.M. (reporting)06:50, Jubara Checkpoint. We arrived at the checkpoint and split up into two groups: two watchers remained at the checkpoint and two went to the schoolchildren’s gate, as we thought it unnecessary for all four of us to remain together in one place.As we reached the gate, the children began passing through. One soldier stood beside the gate and a second soldier stood with his rifle pointed in the direction of the gate. The children passed through at a steady rate, taking about quarter of an hour altogether.The soldiers here have been known to shut the gate after only ten minutes. We were standing at some distance from the gate, and pulled out a cellular phone to make a call. Perhaps it was this that influenced them to keep the gate open another five minutes. When they did shut the gate, we phoned the Civilian Administration office and complained that the gate had not been kept open until 07:30. (Last time we saw latecomers prevented from going through.)It is important that we always complain to the Civil Administration about the improper way in which the schoolchildren’s gate is being operated. Last week we also wrote a letter of complaint requesting that the school bus service be reinstated to operate as it did prior to the erection of the fence. No reply has yet been received. It is important to keep up the pressure!07:45, Jubara Checkpoint. Many pedestrians and horse-drawn carts at the northern Tulkarm end were not being given permission to go through. The soldiers were very young and rude. Those Palestinians coming from the south — the A-Ras region — were allowed through only if they had permits, and after a certain time, even permit-holders were not allowed to pass.When we checked with the soldiers on duty, they told us there was a “closure” [i.e. between Israel and the Territories] and that no one was being allowed through, permit or no permit. When we pointed out to them that this checkpoint was for passage entirely within the Occupied Territories, they simply repeated this remark. (Note: Don’t ever take the word of a soldier as an exact description of the facts.)We phoned the Civilian Administration, from whom we learned that a closure was indeed in effect. We phoned the DCO and asked them to send someone, since the situation was getting impossible. Cars with permits and ambulances were passing through the checkpoint and endangering the pedestrians who were crowded together as they tried to get through. The elderly, the babies and the men and women who had brand-new magnetic cards were not being let through. (These magnetic cards are issued to let people travel within the Palestinian areas; possession of such a card means that the holder would, upon submitting a request, also be granted a permit to cross into Israeli territory.)The soldiers were getting increasingly short-tempered and began to threaten the Palestinians that if they talked to us, they would not be allowed through. We lowered our profile a bit, moved to the side and again phoned the DCO and the Humanitarian Centre of the Civilian Administration. After the third call, Lt. On from the DCO arrived and within 10 minutes the whole checkpoint was cleared. All the checking was done by examining IDs alone.The whole business took an hour. Among those who had been waiting was an engineer who lives in Tulkarm but works in Qalqiliya; he simply got fed up and went back home. But there was also a group of women wanting to visit relatives at A-Ras (?) who were so relieved that they simply kissed us. Some people who work for a European organization thanked us as they eventually went through, and all I could do was to apologize. According to Lt. On, instructions on the “closure” can change from minute to minute.Lt. On is a reservist and will go back to civilian life in a few days. We asked him to take a message back to the DCO: that it is vitally important that a DCO officer be present at the checkpoint because the soldiers on duty are very young and simply not up to coping with the pressures imposed on them by the circumstances of the checkpoint. There is something calming and reassuring in the presence there of an older figure with authority. He said he would liaise with the person coming to replace him, but he could not take responsibility nor did he know who the incoming officer would be.09:15, Tulkarm Checkpoint, at the gate to the village of Irtah. As we got out of our cars and started walking towards the gate, we noticed busy “back-to-back” transfer activity [trucks and vans parked back-to-back, for offloading goods from the arriving vehicle onto the departing one delivering the goods at a destination across the checkpoint] and an equally lively flow of Israeli Palestinians going to visit family in Irtah. (As Israeli citizens, they aren’t allowed to enter Tulkarm).A German journalist and a photographer were taking photographs at the checkpoint and also asked to interview us and to hear about our work with MachsomWatch. The soldiers would not let us go through the gate, a “Closed Military Area”. We left at 09:45.