Tyasir and Bekaot, Monday, 19.9.05, AM Observers: Yehudit. H, Revital. S, (Reporting)07:00 – 10:00 Tyasir 07:00 When we arrived at the checkpoint, the teachers on their way to Barda’ala had already passed through. There weren’t any special events, very few vehicles seeking passage, non were detained. We were greeted politely, even warmly by the soldiers at the checkpoint. Bekaot 08:20 Two cars arriving from the Nablus side are detained. On the one side a truck is standing, the cargo has been taken down and the two passengers are standing by. Our inquiry reveals that the truck had tried to go through earlier but apparently they were carrying a gas cylinder; the passengers were told they could continue on their way without the cylinder. They turned back and returned shortly, however the gas cylinder was still on the truck. We were told that a gas cylinder is categorized as arms, the cylinder was to be handed over to the police and the passengers were now waiting for them.A minibus was also waiting on the other side; it’s passengers standing by. Although all the passengers held passage permits the driver did not and consequently they were all detained.“Look at these scum” a reserve soldier volunteered to explain voluntarily. We ask that at least the children of the scum be allowed to sit in the minibus, in the shade, until its fate be decided. At that point all the passengers were allowed on the minibus and it went through shortly after. We did not ask how the driver’s permit problem was resolved. We were happy to see them go.The truck, at 9.30, had already been detained for one and a half hours, now it was reloaded and its passengers were allowed to sit inside. However there was no progress in resolving the problem. We tried to find out how long it usually took for the police to arrive. In the meantime we wondered hypothetically perhaps but not in the reality of conquest, whether the police are even aware that they are being expected?After several attempts we succeeded in reaching M at the command base, she said that the cylinder had been confiscated but the truck was allowed to go through. We explained that this was not so, that we are standing by the truck which is still detained along with the passengers, we were assured that the authorization for the truck to continue its journey should come through from the “regiment” very soon. Halleluiah!!A phone call to the DCO representative, who was present at the checkpoint all along, revealed that ten minutes after we left, the truck had also left the checkpoint. Other vehicles passed through without any problems, traffic was pretty slow, and here too the soldiers were pleasant and even eager for conversation.