Jubara, Saturday 7.2.04 – midday.Dalit s. Tamar A., Nurit. 11.15- Qalqiliya :We came to check whether the Checkpoint is there – none and the traffic flows freely. 11.30 Jubara – People going through from all directions. The young commander named A’ draws our attention to a young boy on a donkey who – he claims – tried to smuggle an illegal. There are Illegals who were caught while attempting to cross over into the green line via the hills The Illegals claim that this is not true but that they simply tried to go through Jubara on their way home. The soldiers explain that these are dangerous people who are transgressing the law. They are trying to draw us into an argument. In answer to our query as to when they would be released, the commander says it is up to his decision.. In the meantime an aggressive lieutenant appears and bid us move away and shouted at the Illegals. A woman arrives at the checkpoint from Tulkarem with a young boy. She has an ID permit signed by the deputy mayor of Taibeh that she is a resident of Taibeh. She has does not have a permit. The soldiers push her back nastily and refuse her way to Taibeh. We try to understand why a person who is married to an Israeli but has no right of residency, although she does live in Taibeh. We call Kamil , who confirms that if she does not have the right document she cannot enter. We demand that he check her identity number. He talks to her at length on the phone, but does not authorize her entry. She goes back to Tulkarem. 12.45 – The school gate: We had previously asked the soldiers whether there was school and were told that they did not open the gate that morning. The village people told us a different version. Ar 12.50 we saw children coming back. The gate was closed and no jeep, only a Dubai TV crew on the Jubara side. A jeep passes but does not stop to open the gate for 25 minutes. Eventually owing to our phone calls to the DCO and the TV crew very aggressive soldiers appear, to us and to the TV. They open the gate very slowly while pointing a gun at the children, A teacher says to us that when there are civilian Israelis or TV then the soldiers w=are more civil, that only the previous day the soldiers harassed a seven year old girl with sexist words. They keep calling all the girls “fatma”, or |”where is your husband”. They refuse to wait for the next batch of kids although they are told that more children are due to arrive. This means that the next group has to wait. Unfortunately we had to leave before the jeep arrived. We phoned the DCO, at 13.50 , since children were still waiting,and were told that the matter is being dealt with.