BEIT IBA, Tuesday 18 May 2004 PMObservers: Ella H., Ada R., Ilana K. (reporting) colour=red>14:15 — On our way to Beit Iba we stopped to see the barrier near the village of Anabta. There was something eerie about the sight: an unmanned barrier put across the road leading up to Tulkarm, blocking vehicular traffic , but not the passage of pedestrians. On either side of the barrier stood buses and taxis, waiting to pick up passengers “in transit”. This is the last stop for buses coming from Nablus, and those wanting to go to Tulkarm must get off here, walk to the other side of the barrier, get on another bus or taxi, and pay again for the next leg of the trip. 14:30 — When we got to Beit Iba, we found just a few Palestinians on either side crossing through the checkpoint. Nine young men had been detained [pending cross-checking of their ID card numbers against a central list of suspect or “wanted” persons, compiled and kept by Israel’s General Security Services — known by the Hebrew acronym, Shabak, or the Hebrew initials, Shin Bet; the checks often take a very long time, between one and many more hours]. They were not very cooperative about giving us answers, but we gathered that they had been waiting between 15 minutes to two hours.The conduct of the soldiers gave us a pleasant surprise: they were efficient, polite and business- like, checking the Palestinians in groups of five ( in the line moving into Nablus) and in two’s (in the line moving out of Nablus). When we arrived they were busy putting up some shade over the area in which the Palestinians usually queue, and had also put water containers on each side of the barrier. We discovered that this was an elite unit of reserves. Their commander spoke some Arabic and tried his best to solve problems while staying within the regulations. The only one who reminded us of the ‘normal’ conduct that we see at Beit Iba was O., of the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [ the army section that deals with Palestinian civilian matters: it often has a representative at the checkpoints who is supposed to help alleviate the lot of the Palestinians]. After having let a young man accompany his wife to see a doctor in Nablus in the morning, he called the young man a ‘liar’, when the couple returned, because they did not have a written proof of the visit from a doctor. O. refused to accept the man’s explanation that the doctor had not been there after all; he sent him to wait for the security check, despite that fact that he had a magnetic card issued a few months ago, and that his wife was waiting on the other side [the magnetic card, issued by the DCO, is an indication that its holder is not seen as a security risk, and is a sine qua non for being granted any other permit].Since we were not really needed at Beit Iba, we went on to a checkpoint near [the Jewish Israeli settlement of] Karnei Shomron, where some five Palestinian vehicles were parked, confiscated as a punishment for their drivers having dared to use the “settlers’ only” highway.On our way home we passed through Jit junction, which was clear; but we did encounter an unannounced road block manned by police and an army jeep, with only one car being checked. There was no barrier at Azzun.