Shavei Shomron, Beit Iba, Sunday, 12.02.06, PM Observers: Alix W., Lee D., Susan L. (reporting)Guest: Gianmatteo A. Summary”Organization Theory, Design and Change” – the title of a book, cradled in the arms of a young woman returning from An Narjah University in Nablus, through the Beit Iba checkpoint. No doubt she hasn’t given much thought to factors affecting the organizational design process in the Occupied Territories, but surely it’s possible that issues and problems involved in managing the process of organizational change and transformation in the West Bank have occupied her mind. And how could she not be cognizant of the stakeholder approach to organizations and the implications of such an approach for organizational effectiveness? In the West Bank, even though this is Palestinian land, there are only two groups of stakeholders — soldiers and settlers. Even though the settler organization is one MachsomWatch observers aren’t that closely in touch with, the implications of the stakeholder approach to organizational effectiveness is only too clear. We can’t but help notice the continuing success of the settler enterprise in the many recent advertisements for new housing in Enav, starting from behind the Green Line near Taybeh, to the huge separation-type concrete wall going up around Shavei Shomron and the newly built apartheid roundabout which serves as a complex checkpoint below the settlement of Tapuah (Za’atara).The soldier organization we know much better. We know that the soldiers relate not at all to their checkpoint environment which is filthy, strewn with left over mud from last week’s rains and centered mainly on when they get fed: witness the orange eater at the Shavei Shomron lookout tower, “Yossi” who makes coffee at Anabta, the endless eating and smoking that goes on at all checkpoints. And we know that they relate as little as possible to their human environment of thousands of Palestinians streaming past to and from work, family, school or university. But, as stakeholders in this harsh land, destined to hours of checking hapless Palestinians, creature comforts of a new “porta” toilet are found today, for the first time, at Anabta. As for the original stakeholders of this naturally beautiful land, for them, there is nothing – nothing but waiting in line, more and more rolling checkpoints and the uncertainty as to whether they’ll ever reach their destination: the fluent Hebrew speaking taxi driver at Jit who, but for a couple of well placed phone calls, would never have been able to make his way home to Tulkarm. Junction of 60 and 5715:25 — rolling checkpoint with a line of 12 vehicles at the junction of 60 and 57, but since this checkpoint is now a fixture, it’s no longer correct to call it a “rolling” checkpoint. The Hummer or the Zelda, placed horizontally across the road, is always there, so are the soldiers and the line is more or less the same length at any hour.Shavei Shomron15:30 — it’s been a while since we visited this checkpoint, once so busy with busses and other vehicles coming and going to and from Jenin. No longer! Today, it’s deserted, not a human being or a car or bus in sight. Jenin is under quarantine, and anybody wanting to get in or out of the city must find other ways. Today, just a group of bored soldiers, hanging around by the settlement. It’s the settlement that has changed, at least from the outside. What looks like another piece of the concrete separation wall is going up, we’re told, all around the settlement. The love of ghetto creation is obviously foremost in the minds of the settlement enterprise….Beit Iba16:00 — a long line of vehicles, coming from Nablus, at least 12. The checking is methodical — neither particularly slow, but certainly not fast. A minibus, full of women, has all its IDs taken by a soldier, who checks each one against his list of numbers. There are no pointed rifles visible today, either at the vehicle checkpost or at the main checkpost.There’s it’s quiet, A., the DCO representative, who does less and less, refusing to deal with the case of a man who left his ID at the checkpoint, hangs out with the soldiers who are also not busy. Students return from the university, families who’ve been out for the week end with small children and babies and some usual, familiar faces pass by quickly.16:50 SarraThe hose for the water leading from the water pipe seems to be new, less limp than in the past. The boulders are again placed firmly and squarely across the roadway leading up to the village, ensuring that the water truck cannot get near the pipe. A small van passes us, asks if there are checkpoints on the way to Nablus and whether we’ll drive in front of them, so that we grant them “protection”! 17:00 Jit JunctionThe rolling checkpoint here, for vehicles coming from the Huwwara direction, also seems to be a fixture, but instead of being placed at the junction of the two roads, it’s placed so that the entrance to the village of Sarra beyond is blocked, and the line of vehicles extends beyond, up the hill part of the IDF’s new “organizational effectiveness” perhaps, and the soldiers here seem to be particularly obnoxious. A taxi driver, from Tulkarm, on his way home, is told that he can’t get there, in spite of papers being in order. He’s a fluent Hebrew speaker, the new taxi, we’re told, is kicked by the soldier, and the taxi driver is angry and in despair. There’s supposedly, no quarantine for Tulkarm, so what is going on? A few well placed phone calls, exchange of phone numbers, and we’re on our way, during which time we learn that the taxi driver could, indeed, find his way home – or at least he was clear until the next checkpoint.As for the Beit Iba student, we wonder if she faults the textbook which she carries for not dealing with “organization theory, design and change” under conditions of occupation…