Beit Iba
BEIT IBA, Monday 18 April 2005 PMObservers: Hagar K., Sarah K., (reporting) colour=red>SummaryThere was a long line of 30 vehicles at Jit junction. Drivers complained that they'd had to go through many road blocks and that the drive from Nablus to Ramallah had taken about eight hours.At the checkpoint, many taxi drivers were on the look-out for passengers to Jenin. The atmosphere was calm.Buses crossed the checkpoint freely, but young men had to get off their buses and wait in the line to be checked. Then they had to look for the next bus of the same company to continue their journey. It is not clear why they cannot be checked while on the bus. There was no pressure at the checkpoint. At least three soldiers were on duty checking those going through and they were joined by another soldier when the need arose. Two of the soldiers were particularly rude,As we were on our way to the checkpoint, the morning shift reported that a tear gas grenade had been thrown in the checkpoint area. We tried, unsuccessfully, to get more information about this from the taxi drivers. The soldiers, however, told us that two drivers had quarreled at the checkpoint and their quarrel had developed into a real fight, so that they had to be removed from the checkpoint by the soldiers. In the general muddle , someone had used tear gas. 15:00 – A long line of 30 vehicles waited at Jit junction. One of the drivers reportedthat he'd waited for more than an hour. We tried to call him 45 minutes later ,but he did not answer.15:15 – There were many taxis crowded close to the carpenter's workshop.At the checkpoint itself, a line of about 50 people waited to go through. Women went through quickly. A Military Policewoman checking those going to Nablus was impatient and rude.The computers were out of order and the checking of detainees
took a long time. There were five detainees, two of them Israelis who claimed they'd not known that Israelis were not allowed to enter Nablus. The soldiers told us that they'd called the Israeli police [it is they who deal with Israelis committing offences in the occupied territories; 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 usually 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 detainee carried a Jordanian passport with which, so he claimed, he'd frequently gone through the checkpoint without ever being detained. .A 17-year- old youth from Qalquiliya had left his ID card at home. He called his parents so that he could give the soldiers their ID numbers in an attempt to help them verify his details. An older friend waited with him, trying to help him through.15:40 - The two Israeli detainees were released after a warning from 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] not to do this again.There were about 10 vehicles in the line going out of Nablus. Two soldiers were checking very slowly. 16:00 - We were joined by two colleagues, Raya and Ziona, who told us that when they gone through Jit junction there'd been no line. The number of people waiting to cross through the checkpoint had gone up to about 80. Waiting time seemed to be on average about 15 minutes. The checkpoint commander told the older men to form a separate line.16:15 - A young man was ordered off an ambulance. He had no passage permit and was sent back to Nablus after a few minutes.16:20 - The youth who'd forgotten his ID card at home was allowed to return home to Qalquiliya with his friend. A 16-year-old, accompanied by his family, was not allowed to enter Nablus with them because he had no ID with him. His mother waited with him for some time and then gave up. Ten minutes later he was given permission to join the family. 17:00 - The soldiers detained a student who had a PLO sticker on one of his notebooks. They claimed this constituted "incitement". After wait of 15 minutes, for "educational purposes" , he was allowed to proceed.17:20 - A sergeant stood alongside the turnstiles directing people to the checkpoint [these are not simple turnstiles such as one finds in a subway station, but high , revolving gates made of steel bars: each segment is barely large enough to admit one average-sized person; there is virtually no room to spare for anything that person may be carrying , whether a child or a parcel; passage for pregnant women or for the elderly is extremely difficult and frightening]. He was very rude. He detained another student who had on him a picture of a man in handcuffs. This the sergeant folded carefully and put in his pocket, joking (?) that he wanted to hang it in his room. The student was released after a few minutes, without his picture.17:40 - There was now no pressure at the turnstiles. A young man tried to go through with his 14- year-old brother who was sent back to Nablus: under 16s must be accompanied by a parent .There was still a tail-back of 12 vehicles in the line leaving Nablus. The soldiers had no reason to speed up the checks. 18:10 - Two vehicles with markings indicating that they were carrying medical staff arrived at the checkpoint. But the soldiers discovered that the passengers were not physicians, but paramedics and they were therefore directed to Huwwara checkpoint. One of the drivers tried to argue and became angry when one of the soldiers cursed him. He insisted on speaking to the checkpoint commander and, after a short discussion with the sergeant, then drove back to Nablus.18:20 Only a few people were arriving at the checkpoint now and they went through quickly. There were no more cars. The soldiers told us that the checkpoint was open until 19:00.