Beit Iba

Beit Iba 9.2.2005 AMObservers: Netty A, Carmel B, Rina Z, Michalina D (reporting)On the way we saw that the road to Ramin village is still blocked.8.55-10.10A rainy and very cold day. Traffic to and from Nablus was sparse, and there were almost no vehicles or pedestrians on the way to Qusin. At the pedestrian crossing the soldiers were nervous and made us stand on one side. They checked IDs in search of wanted men. We agreed with them on a place where we could stand without blocking their view and so that we could see what was going on.Pedestrian passage was usually fast, but passengers had to leave buses with their packages on one side of the checkpoint, walk there in the cold and rain, stand in line for checking and only then reboard buses on the othr side. There were old people with sticks and women carrying small children, trying to protect them from the wind and rain.There was one detainee when we arrived until we left. He was sitting on a bench with his back to the checkpoint but spoke only Arabic so that we could not communicate. The commander said he was a resident of Nablus who wanted to exit although he was of the “wrong age.” He had no intention of letting the boy through but his papers were taken for checking. We asked why he was forced to sit with his back to the checkpoint but received no reply. Our appeal to the DCO officer seemed to help and within five minutes the boy was released but sent back to Nablus.A physician from Nablus wanted to leave on his way to work in a vehicle with a medical sticker. Since the vehicle had no special permit, he was sent back to Nablus. He claimed that he drove to work every day in the car and had never been asked for a permit. Since our appeals to the soldiers were of no avail, we asked the doctor to wait, took out our list of telephone numbers and started making calls. As soon as we started, a soldier arrived with orders from the commander to let the doctor through.