PM

JUBARA, Sunday 16 May 2004 PMObservers: Roni K., . Analin, Ada H., . Sarah K. colour=red>13:15 We reached the village of Habla and the gate that serves pupils from the Beduin villages around [the Jewish Israeli settlement] Alfei Menashe who attend school in the village. The gate was locked and there was nobody there. We met the bus driver who had come to pick up the children, but he turned back when he found nobody. Local people we met said that the children had gone through the gate without any problems earlier in the morning.13:20 Qalqiliya Checkpoint There were only a few pedestrians, but there were many vehicles being checked by two soldiers. The commander was very authoritarian, but answered our questions politely. Israeli cars were not allowed to enter the city unless their drivers had special permits. Even as we watched, a car-load of Israeli Arabs was turned away because they did not have the required permit. 13:30 Irtah GateThere were only a few cars in the line leading to the gate. Lorries entered and off-loaded or loaded goods in the back-to-back system without difficulties [lorries are not allowed to drive from one area to another through the checkpoint; instead, they come into a special area, their drivers off-load their goods and reload them onto trucks coming from the other side which then return the way they came with their new cargo; and all this in the name of "security"]. A group of women and children came out of Tulkarm -- they told us they were from Taibeh and had learned that morning that visits to relatives in Tulkarm were being allowed; so they had seized the opportunity and indeed had encountered no difficulties in crossing from Israel into Tulkarm in the occupied territories. A detainee was sitting close to the gate waiting for his documents to be returned to him. He was being punished for having been in Israel without a permit. 13:45 Jubara Checkpoint A man in the cafe told us that a group of high-ranking army officers and other senior officials had visited the fence [the controversial so-called "security fence" now being built between Israel and the occupied territories along a line that has been unilaterally decided upon by Israel] earlier today. There are rumors that the intention is to change the route of the fence so that it runs between Jubara and Taibeh. There was no-one at the gate up in Jubara.At the checkpoint, traffic moved smoothly checked by a volunteer and a young soldier. Several women soldiers sat inside singing loudly. There were five young detainees who claimed they had been waiting [pending the results of a security check of their ID cards ] for several hours. We tried to help them but got no response to our phone calls to the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [ the army section that handles civilian matters]. The soldiers were unconcerned and said only that they would probably free the detainees within an hour or so. A Palestinian with a handcart loaded with poultry tried to go through the checkpoint to Jubara to hand over his goods . But he had no permit and was refused permission to proceed. The soldiers said that the designated recipient of the poultry should come from the village and take the birds himself. When we left, at around 15:30, he was still waiting, as were the five detainees.