Beit Iba, Anabta

BEIT IBA, ANABTA, Tuesday 7 December 2004 AM Observers: Maya M., Iris R., Shlomit S., Elinoar (reporting) colour=red> Since we saw no problems at Jubara, we continued to Beit Iba. Things here were also relatively quiet, though the reserve unit had left and the checkpoint was manned by regular soldiers. The young lieutenant in charge was calm and polite, and the representative of the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians ] was A., of whom we have good memories. Moving on to Shavei Shomron, we found that the checkpoint ( for today, at least) had been moved to the intersection, and there were no detainees.In Anabta things were as bad as usual. This unbelievable barrier was not manned by soldiers, only watched from afar by a Big Brother sitting on the hill, ready to come rushing down whenever there was "trouble" . Palestinians arriving from either side of this unmanned checkpoint must leave their taxis or buses, negotiate the barrier either by moving cautiously around it (it borders a chasm) or crawling under it (an almost impossible feat for the elderly, for pregnant women or for sick people). Then they must transfer to other buses or taxis, licensed to drive in the next region.More about the ongoing saga of the taxi drivers: Today we were told by taxi drivers in Beit Iba and Anabta, about unrelated (or maybe related?) harassment of a new kind (new at least to us): physical damage done to their taxis by soldiers. In Beit Iba drivers told us that army Hummer vehicles butted their taxis after the soldiers had decided that they weren't moving [out of the way] fast enough. In Anabta we were shown dents in the body of a taxi which the driver claimed had been made by a soldier kicking the taxi: it did look like footprints. Another told us that all four wheels of his friend's taxi had been slashed at night by soldiers.We gave them our cell-phone number, and asked them to call us on the spot if and when such things happen on Tuesday mornings [when we are around]. Maya will ask other shifts to do the same if this is agreeable to them.