Sarra, Beit Iba, Shavei Shomron 15/3/2004 Watchers: Noya O., Miri K., Alona C., Yarden D., Anat D., Ruthie K.(reporting) Today I wish to diverge somewhat from our regular depressing reports and quote to you a few of the many bill boards that spread over the hills of Samaria. Following are a few:The Torah laws have preference over human laws Your are in Samaria – the right way Kedumim in the throes of building The Young Shavei Shomron Building Project The Kedumim Resort Village – a family holiday in a rustic atmosphere In Kedumim High Class Residency stone houses Back to the report: On the way to Sarra a rolling checkpoint. Two soldiers and a jeep across the road checking several trucks and taxis. In Sarra there is no road block. The sight is the same as usual: hardly a soul to be seen. A few soldiers manning the area while the building of the camp/ fort is in full swing. A man wishes to accompany his wife to the dentist, but refused exit. He is very angry, and refuses to take phone numbers from us. A tractor driver awaiting truck with grains is told the vehicle can’t come via Gitt, but has to go around through Beit Iba. He is very resentful and tells us: “You have no idea what they do to us. You have no idea what it is like in the village – catastrophe.”Ambulances are let through.We continued to Beit Iba, where there is no visible change – all the stories about improvement at the checkpoints seem to me a cock and bull story. There are lengthy lines going out of Nablus and a long line of trucks and cars going towards Nablus, many ambulances as well and a large number of detainees, amongst them a teacher, two women, a male nurse from Jenin. Alona deals with them through the CP commander very effectively and they are released in a shorter time than usual. Ofer of the DCO is also there. Most soldiers refuse to talk to us , these are the instructions of the officer Haikeh, but some do communicate. Haikeh is helpful when we ask him to speed up the very slow pace of truck checking. We hop over to Shavei Shomron. Compared to previous visits, we notice a longer line of trucks (mostly with Israeli number plates) in the direction of Jenin. There are 6 confiscated taxis in the parking lot. The soldiers told us they are returned after 4 days. We spoke to two soldiers who are very influenced by the proximity of the inhabitants of Shavei Shomron, and assure us that the land of Samaria is ours by right…On our way back to Beit Ibba there is a surprise check point in Dir Sharaf., in other words persons who finally are free of the long line in Biet Ibba are caught by the military jeep some 2 km further. The soldiers said we did not understand how important it is because a terrorist can slip through .between Beit Ibba and Dir Sharaf.