Beit Iba

BEIT IBA, Monday 6 December 2004 PM Observers: Macki S., Ruth K., Sarah K., Anat D. (reporting) colour = red>SummaryAn "ordinary" day at the checkpoint. Things moved smoothly and calmly. There were only a few people and vehicles, and the soldiers were relatively soft-spoken, polite and efficient during the entire watch, including the more stressful moments. The officer, A., was friendly and listened patiently to our requests, as did H., 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].13:30 – As we arrived, a taxi driver whose documents and car keys had been confiscated yesterday appealed to us. On Sunday, at around 16:00, the checkpoint commander had confiscated the identity cards and keys of four taxi drivers who had crossed the "virtual" line at the checkpoint [ intended to keep the drivers at a considerable distance from the checkpoint proper, which makes it difficult for them to pick up passengers] . An hour and a half later their possessions were returned to them; but this particular driver had received back only his keys. The next morning (at about 08:00) he came to the checkpoint to pick up his ID card, which had not been found the day before. But, to his great regret, the card, to which were attached his magnetic card and his passage permit, had still not been found. He had been waiting all morning, but the search had yielded no results. We called R.[the head of the local DCO], who referred us to DCO officer H, who was present at the checkpoint but unable to help. An hour later the company commander arrived and ordered another search, but this one, too, was fruitless. When we caled the army's "humanitarian" hotline, A. told us that the driver should go to the DCO at Huwwara and file a police report on the loss of the card. The driver decided to go home and report to the DCO the following morning.We stayed in touch with A. who called at about 22:00 to tell us that the card had been lost, and to reiterate that the only thing to do was to file a police report. The following morning I talked with the driver, but he was happy to tell me that he'd already gone back to the checkpoint, where his documents had been found (apparently they'd been in the pocket of the commander who'd confiscated them).So there was a happy ending to the driver's story — he'd "only" lost a full day's work — but the soldiers' continuing intolerable slackness over identity cards is infuriating. While we were standing at the checkpoint we saw a soldier stick one detainee's ID card into his pocket, instead of adding it to the pile of cards waiting to be checked We spoke to the commander, and the card was added to the pile — along with another one which the soldier had forgotten about.There was little pedestrian or vehicular activity in either direction. The soldiers told us that the longed-for computers [which they will use to check the ID cards of detainees ] had not yet arrived.14:30 – Pedestrian activity increased, but the checking procedure was carried out without any fuss and the atmosphere continued calm. An ambulance with two passengers was stopped at the side of the road. According to the soldiers, the particulars of one of the passengers were nearly identical with those of a wanted Palestinian. The passengers waited for 45 minutes until the soldiers received permission to let them through. Nine detainees were waiting to be checked, despite the relaxation of rules (such as the free passage of students).[Detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. The detainees' ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. One of them was a 45-year-old taxi driver who had a permit and was driving women from Sarra to Nablus. He was being punished for trying to "sneak" extra rides while waiting for the women. He was released after one hour.15:00 – A senior officer of this particular group of soldiers, D., came to check how things were going at the checkpoint, together with three more soldiers. The checkpoint team used the opportunity to take a break and chat, barely noticing the people waiting to be checked. 15:45 – About 12 detainees were standing in the shelter. There'd been some delay in replies from the GSS. Driving home (via Jubara) we saw considerable numbers of military vehicles, and an unannounced checkpoint that had been set up at the Anabta junction.