PM

JUBARA, Sunday 2 May 2004 PM Observers: Ada and Dalit colour-red>A Palestinian woman to whom we gave a ride told us of a checkpoint between Habla and Qalqiliya.Habla- Qalqiliya Checkpoint -- Gate 1393 There were Palestinian pedestrians, including children going through the checkpoint. But Israelis and goods were not allowed to cross. A soldier confiscated the whip from the driver of a donkey cart , saying that he was acting to prevent cruelty to animals. The gate was open for a short while (between an hour to an hour-and- a- half, depending on whom one asked), and then it was closed and the soldiers left.Qalqiliya Checkpoint This has been manned since [ Gaza Hamas leader Dr. Abdel Aziz ] Rantisi's assassination by the army. A group of some 30 youngsters was returning from some sports event in Qalqiliya and had been waiting for over an hour to get out. Goods were transferred only by the back-to-back system [brought on one lorry which offloads the goods which are then transferred onto the back of a waiting lorry that will take them on the next leg of the journey, the idea being that lorries should not travel through checkpoints].A long line of taxis and private cars eventually went through without being checked.Tulkarm, Checkpoint 700 There was a closure in force and almost no pedestrians in evidence. Trucks transferred goods coming from Israel to Tulkarm on the back-to-back system. Only certain specific goods were permitted to be moved out of Tulkarm. A Palestinian resident of the US was not allowed in (he did go through later via Jubara.)Jubara Pedestrians and vehicles were moving through the checkpoint. Among those detained were several Palestinians who had been working in Israel illegally. One said he had been detained for several hours. Our intervention with the operations officer (by phone) helped to release one who did have a permit. The rest, lacking the appropriate permits, were released about two-and-a-half hours later. At about 16:30, five children aged between 8 and 13, caught on the Israeli side of the fence ,were brought in , and when we left a quarter of an hour later they were still detained. Shortly after we arrived at 13:30, we found two handcuffed detainees, one of whom was crying, saying that he had been hit in the stomach We put him in contact with the Centre for the Protection of the Rights of the Individual. Both men were still handcuffed and in detention when we left.