BEIT IBA, Monday 17 May 2004 PMObservers: Ruti K., Meki S., Noya A., Anat D., Maya K. (reporting) colour=red>We were joined by former MK Shulamit Aloni (of the Meretz-Yahad party) and a Canal + (French TV) teamWe met reserve soldiers, some of them with long ponytails, at the Beit Iba checkpoint and at three unannounced roadblocks. The atmosphere was relaxed, there was no need to contact any outside body for help. Of the detainees: there were only those awaiting GSS replies [ID cards of Palestinian men between 16 and 35 , and sometimes those of others too, are frequently confiscated for cross-checking of their owners’ security status against central lists compiled and held by the General Security Services (GSS aka by its Hebrew acronym Shabak or by its abbreviated Hebrew initials, Shin Bet); this process can be very lengthy, between one and many more hours];there were almost none being held as a punishment. We didn’t succeed in reaching the Huwwara checkpoint because the road was blocked by the army due to the evacuation of the Mitzpeh Yitzhar outpost [it is the declared policy of the Sharon government ostensibly to “evacuate” a certain few Jewish Israeli settlements which even this government deems “illegal”; the evacuations have been fiercely and often successfully fought by the settlers’ movement]. Consequently there was a large crowd of Palestinians wanting to use the checkpoint at Beit Iba.There is a problem of shade for detainees at Beit Iba. The checkpoint commander G. said he had spoken to the army authorities and asked for netting. A water tank had also arrived for the line at the exit from Nablus. We asked G. to put up a sign in Arabic beside the detainees’ concentration point to tell them that they may to take water from the pipe.Because we received word of the closing of Huwwara on our way there, we drove to Beit Iba by a road we don’t usually take. At the junction of roads 505 and 506 there was an unannounced roadblock, with three detainees, residents of Ramallah who work in Tulkarm, held there beside the road. They said they traveled the road every day and had never before been detained. As noted, the reserve soldiers were pleasant (and Shulamit Aloni was an attraction. At every checkpoint, reservists were happy to talk to her!) and the detainees were released after a few minutes. At the Jit junction, there were four detainees, who had been en route from Ramallah to Tulkarm. For some reason, their release took two hours.At the roadblock before the turnoff to Beit Iba, a taxi was being checked: it drove on after a few minutes.14:00 — Beit Iba What a sight met our eyes when we arrived: a line of 15-20 trucks held up on the way into Nablus — and the drivers said they’d been waiting two hours. There were 50-100 pedestrians (and perhaps more) leaving Nablus while we were there. The soldiers and their commander, G., worked at full speed, and gradually released the pressure, although the pedestrian line remained long (it probably included people who hadn’t been able to use the Huwwara checkpoint).There were four women beside the pillbox, who claimed they’d been waiting two hours and that their documents had been taken from them and were with O. (who has returned to the checkpoint) . O. said the women had pushed their way into the line and had only been there half an hour. A few minutes later, they were released (this was the only case of punishment of this kind that we encountered).We met a truck driver who claimed that the soldiers had lost his truck’s permit, which had been in his ID card. The commander said that wasn’t possible. After waiting a long time, the driver left, and shortly afterwards one of the soldiers found the permit lying on the ground. We gave it to O., who promised to get it to the driver. I hope he has done so. We can’t check because we didn’t take his phone number.