Beit Iba 10/3/2004 Watchers: Tsilla L., Ayelet, Hannah A., Hava, Etti P., Irit, Michal P., Orit, Shira H., two guests (we were too many people!) 13.20, Sarra. When we reached Sarra, the road was open for traffic to the top of the hill. The only people around were two men waiting to leave the village. There was no “checkpoint”, but on the hill where the checkpoint used to be there was considerable building activity using large concrete blocks. A soldier we asked told us that a new army base was going up there. 13.40, Beit Iba. Some 50 to 60 detainees, some of whom had been there since 06.00 or 08.00. 14.15. Following our intervention both through the Centre for the Defence of the Individual and through major O. of the DCO, who was at the checkpoint, the detainees were gradually released in batches, but as the old ones went, new ones took their place. The few cars wanting to travel in the direction of Nablus had a wait of about an hour. 14.30. Some of our group went off to check into what was going on at the Shavei Shomron checkpoint where we found all was absolutely quiet, no people, no cars. Apparently the bad name that this checkpoint has discourages Palestinians from travelling this way and they seek out alternative routes. 15.06. On the way back to Beit Iba we just caught a fleeting glimpse of a soldier dragging a Palestinian by his shirt and pushing him into a military jeep. We approached to check on what was happening and were told: “He came up here without a permit to go through and we are taking him back to his village.” When I inquired since when did the army give a lift to a Palestinian who had no permit, I got no answer and the jeep sped off. Its number was Tzaddik 611390, it was driven by a soldier, another sat behind, alongside the driver was a young lieutenant, and a major (apparently a reservist) sat behind him. I immediately called the army’s humanitarian hot line and expressed my concern, although, of course, we had not been able to get details of who the Palestinian was or where he came from. About 15 minutes later, the jeep returned without the Palestinian . In reply to my question as to where the Palestinian was, the lieutenant answered: “We took him home!” and then he added : “What does it all matter! Anyway you have already put in your complaint, so they’ll be asking the questions anyway.” After some hesitation, because we had no information about the Palestinian and where he was from, we nevertheless decided to report the matter to Carmella Menashe (of Israel Radio) who was very grateful that we had contacted her and asked that we always do this in future.A youngster from Jenin who had been detained since 10.00, because he had no permit, was joined by his sister. He had been en route to take an examination to get a job in Nablus. By 15.00 it emerged that the soldiers had lost his identity card. It had not been found by the time we left. We referred him the Centre for the Defence of the Individual and we also asked the army’s humanitarian centre for help. The checkpost commander, N., gave him a hand-written note on a simple piece of paper testifying to the loss of the identity his card. The soldiers also managed to lose another identity card in similar circumstances. A Humiliation. A Palestinian with a hospital appointment for a second fertility test (and he had all the appropriate authorization) was held up by the soldiers and made to report to all present (our group included) exactly what was the purpose of his travelling through the checkpoint.A new sign on the concrete defensive structure protecting the bus stop on the way to Beit Iba proclaimed: “The laws of the Torah have precedence over the laws of man”.