Beit Iba, Sara,

Beit Iba, Sara, 13.02.2005 PMObservers: Alix W., Susan L. (reporting)Summary:A "new peace" in the air? A man stops us by the carpenter's workshopwhere we park and talks of the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, his hopesfor the future. We ask if there's any difference around here, but theanswer, as expected, is the usual "God willing;" He goes on to tell ushe has had no job (plastering) for 18 months: he worked before on theJericho hotel casino and a mall in Ramallah. How he could beoptimistic about the "new peace" is hard to fathom. New at the checkpoint at Beit Iba: a humming generator, from which arestrung lines of green electric wire, and lights, which are turned onalready at about 15:15 above both sides of the checkpoint and on thehill above it. The soldiers tell us they are now open until 18:00:let's check that out! Wait, there's more that's new at Beit Iba: a small metal gate to thedetention compound, to keep people in, another small metal gate at thearea where the DCO representative usually stands - to keep people out. In sum, what's new at Beit Iba is more permanence to the occupation,more facts on the ground - little hope of anything ever changing forthe better. Sara 14:10 There's a very large group of soldiers, eight altogether, six atthe checkpoint itself, a couple on the hilltop above this unobtrusiveand basic checkpoint, all in attractive black fleeced jackets overtheir uniforms, and all "older" than the usual soldiers. They'rereservists, a reconnaissance unit. There's an upcoming change inshift, so soon only four are left. As one leaves, he tells us thathe's the "conscience of the group." Here, too, we feel it's best notto venture into a political discussion, but he allows that thesituation is "awful." Even on this bucolic hillside, there areconcrete channels for the pedestrians who must get out of the taxis adistance away and stand, in single file, to be checked. Checkingcompleted, the empty taxi comes with its driver, is checked, and thepassengers can again get in. At this hour, it's a busy time, vehiclesarriving non stop, either to or from the village above. There's one detainee, a Jordanian citizen on his way to Tulkarm, withno passport, no papers at all and no language other than his own,which nobody around here can speak! He's already been waiting for twohours for his father to come from Ramallah (but with the checkpointsalong the way, who knows how long such a trip will take).14:15 The main reason to come here today is to learn about thedisastrous effect of the winter rains on the already hobbled movementof Palestinians. The road from Sara to Kocin had been "eaten up," wasclosed on Friday and reopened on Saturday evening - but of course the"apartheid" road, which cuts through swathes of huge rocks on theSamarian hills, remained closed to them. Beit Iba14:55-15:45 We, too, make our way gingerly over the rutted andrain-eaten road around Dir Sharaf, while the yellow Mercedes taxisspeed past, in their usual hurry to get to the checkpoint - where allspeed is duly forgotten! As we approach the checkpoint, a soldier, (very young) comes over fromthe vehicular checkpoint at the junction with the road to Kocin, andasks "Who are you?" Clearly had never heard of MachsomWatch.At the main checkpoint, it's again bitterly cold and rainy, few peoplecrossing; there's no DCO around, just one detainee who is soonreleased. We learn that he tried to evade the soldiers: since no oneseemed to be checking, he had tried to slip by (he's a regularcheckpoint crosser). Some time later, another detainee is immediately checked on the phoneand released. A youngster, no more than 12 or 13, with no papers, moreimportantly no mother (or father) with him, is turned back. Again, the soldiers are mainly reservists, but the checking is done bytwo women and one Arabic speaking military policeman, and there are acouple more very young looking soldiers. The commander of thecheckpoint makes a point of asking us where we're from, and we ask himthe same: N. is his name. They've been around for the past week and ahalf, and N. emphasizes, with pride, that with their reserve unit,"everything works better." To ourselves, we say, "everything isrelative."