Beit Iba

BEIT IBA, Tuesday 21 December 2004 PMObservers: Horit P., Nurit S., Lee E. (reporting)Yamali L. (guest) colour=red>SummaryIn general, this was quite an easy shift. It was cold, and the traffic at the checkpoint was relatively sparse. The relaxation of regulations as a gesture prior to the elections and/or as a token of support for Abu Mazen were conspicuous with regard to those entering Nablus, who went through relatively easily and without delays. 14:10 — We arrived at the checkpoint to find two detainees in the shed. One of them said that he had gone through the checkpoint in the morning on his way to a doctor in Nablus with no problems, but now he was detained for checking. The soldiers told us that there was now unrestricted entrance to Nablus for all, including those aged 14-25. Leaving the city, as this detainee had found out to his cost, was a different matter. [Detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. There has also recently been a downward shift in the ages affected – now from 14 to 30 — but this can vary. 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]From A., our friend from 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] , we learnt that the following orders had been received in connection with the upcoming elections within the Palestinian Authority: free entry to Nabus for all; free passage through the checkpoints for members of the international teams observing the elections; all candidates have permits to pass through on foot or by vehicle. There are no special orders regarding election officials.All the detainees were released within an hour, apart from one, who had been detained by order of the company commander for two hours, since his name resembled that of a wanted man. He was released after a little less than two hours, and went off furious. The checkpoint commander was a stickler for drill. Every now and again, whenever there were more than three people waiting for the turnstile, he stopped all activity in order to go and teach the people in the queue how to behave, and pushed them back with cries of ‘irj’a, irj’a’ [get back, get back] . Yamali couldn't keep quiet, and did her best to educate him: ‘Why don’t you say “shalom” ?’ To demonstrate the importance of politeness, she spent much of the shift next to him, saying ‘Shalom’ to each of the Palestinians as they passed through. Perhaps he learnt something; who knows?A woman living in Israel who'd entered Nablus in the morning without an ID (she said she'd left it at home), was detained on her way out, and required to produce the document . A relative who'd left Nablus together with her organized a complicated operation to bring the ID card from her village. An hour and a half later the ID arrived and she was released, after a warning about entering "Area A" again.Apparently on these cold days there’s no work for the soldiers who hunt queue-jumpers, and when they came back from their round one of them decided to improvise, and help his friend in the hut. When we asked him what was going on, he replied: ‘What, I’m not allowed to help a friend?’ Real brotherhood between warriors ... instead of going to warm up in the room by the fire, he preferred harassing Palestinians. We left at 16:15, in order to get to Huwwara before dark, so that our visitor could have a look at a rather different checkpoint.