BEIT IBA, TUESDAY, 16 MARCH 2004, PMEdna A, Rachel B, Tami (reporting) color =red> Bulldozers are hard at work at the checkpoint on the Green Line, clearing large spaces at the side of the road. Is this to be one of the new style checkpoints that are supposed to incorporate a whole slew of promised conditions that will transform them into something humane that reflects well on the State of Israel? A rolling checkpoint at the Jitt-Sarra junctionThe effects of the checkpoint become apparent to us even before we reach it: an entire family drags its way along at the top of the hill loaded down with large suitcases that they carry on their heads. The soldiers explain to us that the family were on a bus from Ramallah but because the rolling checkpoint took them by surprise they had to get off and continue on foot. Beit Iba The first thing we see is the line of detained Palestinians (around 10-15 depending on the time). Some of them “crept out” of the hillsides and are being punished for that now, some are just waiting in what seems an never-ending routine. One man , who says he has been waiting since 09:00, was advised to “come back in five years” (when he’ll have reached the right age to go through without problems).He said that yesterday he had tried to go through in the direction of Nablus with a child who had a limb in plaster (it is not clear if it was his son or not); in the end he had had to give the little boy to a woman whom the child didn’t know because he himself was not allowed through.All our efforts on behalf of those detained are in vain. One approach to an especially hostile soldier is met with a big balloon of bubble gum blown in our faces. Some receive their identity cards back after a few hours, so at least they can return to where they came from. As we understand it, only two of them succeeded in going through the checkpoint on their way home. A group of about 30 students wait for hours, but all in vain. Because of course, “everyone knows” that students are supposed to return home on Wednesdays, and if the Wednesday classes are cancelled and they want to go home for once on a Tuesday, “they should know that they’re just wasting their time trying this” (that was the answer we got from the army’s humanitarian centre!) Ambulances, however, did go through at an acceptable pace. The line of trucks line was long and moved slowly.In general, the soldiers are very hostile. Most of them don’t even answer when approached. The commander in charge of the line for those coming from Nablus spends most of his time getting the line in order, shouting all the while and pointing his gun at the Palestinians. O. is on the spot and therefore things go faster and in more humane fashion, but even he can’t really solve problems. For example, he has no idea why the students aren’t being allowed through– and when he asks for an explanation he is just given a flat order, without any reasons. .We get some general information about the area: In Kozin, the village to the left of the checkpoint, the IDF has taken over a house and made it into an army post. The family that used to live there has had to find somewhere else to live. We learn that for over two years, the army has been taking over and using one of the village houses, moving from one to another approximately once every three months. The family that has had its house stolen from it is only allowed back when the army vacates. Cars are not allowed to enter the village– the entrance is not blocked by an earth mound but there is a manned army post there and people are therefore compelled to walk for three kilometers on foot, up the hill. Also, we are told in a halting fashion (one gives us he information, another says he doesn’t know about it, and a third confirms the facts but adds that this is not the case today, and so on), there is an abandoned factory near the checkpost to which the soldiers take people to whom they wish to “teach something special “. People disappear there. Some of us go off and try to find out. We discover a whole complex of abandoned buildings. The particular building in question is locked but soon enough we find two soldiers who are either perhaps guarding it or perhaps on the look-out for people trying to slip past the checkpoint. What is clear is that alongside there is a well-cared for garden that gives the impression that the building is in use, but not for manufacturing purposes. At one point, five people come up to us at the checkpoint at their own initiative and tell us that they were stopped up in the hills and held for hours. They say that there are others up there who are still being held. Anyone who tries to move gets a shot fired near his legs as a warning We couldn’t find out anything further about this episode.At around 17:00 we left to pick up our fellow watchers who had gone to Huwwara and we headed back home. We accomplished very little.