BEIT IBA, Sunday May 16 2004 PMObservers:Aliyah S., Yonat B., Neomi L. (reporting) colour = red> In this report: A new checkpoint at [the Jewish settlement] Enav causes trouble to taxi drivers. At Beit Iba, everything looks different when reservists are on duty. Enav Checkpoint We went to Nablus checkpoint via Jubara, turning left after the settlement of Enav onto a narrow, bumpy road where we were soon very surprised to find a huge yellow crane, complete with chains and locks, blocking all through traffic. This is a road for Palestinian use only which leads from Nablus and Ramallah to Tulkarm, Qalqiliya and Jenin. A number of buses and cabs were crowded together at both sides of the blocked road. No one was checking anything, all that passengers had to do was to get off one vehicle and walk 50 to 60 metres to the other side of the blockage in order to take a different taxi for the second part of their ride.This “checkpoint” is well-served by stalls selling drinks and food and there are numerous drivers all trying to make a living (fares range from NIS 4 to NIS5 ). A yellow line has been painted on the road and every few hours an army truck comes past, opens the chain, closes it again, and drives on. Anyone parked over the yellow line is punished by having his car keys confiscated for a few hours. A month ago, cabs and drivers were taken to Jubara and hold there: the drivers until 21:00, the cabs for 14 days. We exchanged phone numbers and asked the drivers to write down the licence numbers of army vehicles whose drivers confiscate their keys. Beit IbaThere were no detainees when we arrived at 14:00 ! By the end of the shift only three detainees were being held and all were set free within a reasonable time. In the morning, we learned, the head and some other officers of the General Security Services [often known by the Hebrew acronym Shabak, or Shin Bet — it is this office that compiles and holds the lists of suspect Palestinians against which the documents of (mostly) men passing through the checkpoints are often cross-checked] had visited the checkpoint and the soldiers there had raised with them the problem of the long time it takes to have detainees’ documents checked: “I want them out of here as fast as possible,” said one of the officers . The checkpoint was manned by reservists under the command of O., who is himself now in the reserves. They will be there for three weeks and this was their first day. Although the number of people coming and going to Nablus was substantial, the checks were short and to the point, people went through the procedures quickly and quietly and the soldiers were decent. Standing in line were many women and children, some of them sick: there was, for example a seven-year-old boy who had cancer; we asked the soldiers to speed his passage through the checkpoint and they did indeed do their best. They initially refused to allow a 22-year-old man to join his pregnant wife who was going to Nablus for a routine hospital examination; but after we spoke to the office, he let the young man pass. Some men without the requisite certificates were told they must have them in future, but this time — “for the last time” — they were allowed through. On the other hand three young man seeking to go from Nablus to their home villages, were sent back by O. The soldiers showed a great deal of interest in us and asked lots of questions about Machsomwatch in general; we gave them some printed material. Judging by their behaviour, I would say that if only checkpoints were always run by reservists, things would be different.