Anabta, Beit Iba, Jit Junction

Anabta, Beit Iba, Jit Junction, Thursday, 12.5.05, PMObservers: Tal B., Hagar K., Elat B. (Reporting)Abstract: A new company commander, Captain R., served as the checkpoint commander and didn’t give us a reason to miss T. A slight load on the turnstiles. A very heavy load of cars from Nablus to the west.Jit junction – 50 cars from south to north. 13:35 – Anabta: a 4 soldiers' checkpoint. The checking of the cars is fast and random. Neither cars nor people are waiting in both directions. An Israeli car is left behind and its driver goes on a taxi to the direction of Tulkarm. Beit IbaT.'s company has left. A new one is there. The company commander - Captain R. makes a good impression. 13:50 One detainee – Israeli citizen. He is released after half an hour. Pedestrians – there's no load in both directions. Vehicles – from the west to Nablus there are 6 trucks and one commercial car. From Nablus to the west there's a heavy load. We were reported about a 1-2 hours wait. Truck drivers, however, reported a shorter time. After an observation we made from our distant stand we realized that the truck drivers, most of them from the local quarry, allow each other to "steal" the line and the passengers in the private cars and buses are stuck in the queue for a longer time. Naturally, their checking takes longer. In the middle queue "humanitarian" cars pass – UN and such. And the third track, the most distant, is for driving in the opposite direction. We held discussions with R. on how to reduce the waiting time. According to him, the central track has to stay clear for humanitarian needs – it sounds logical. In addition, most of the soldiers are new at the "job" and still slow. He promised to try and improve things. At the turnstiles – one especially rude soldier, yells, and rebukes the people passing. He finds it difficult to cope with the fact that the people standing in front of him now are different from those who stood there a minute ago and an hour ago and "still didn’t learn" the regulation. R. calms him down. Since things are going at a rather reasonable pace, we decide not to nag too much. 14:26 The checking position of the cars going from Nablus west is reinforced and starts working in a faster pace, whereas the pace from the west slows down.14:48 A phone call to the humanitarian center – A. will return.14:40 the DCO representative, D., whom I saw yesterday at Huwwara – stands throughout our shift inside the inspection booth for cars leaving Nablus. I turned to him and while I was talking to him, a soldier pushed his way in and demanded to talk to him first. I moved aside and from what I understood, the soldier imposed on him a strict censorship towards us. I then continued my conversation with him in which he said that there are too many Palestinians and that's why there's a load. 14:45 The rude soldier continues to scream and shout.15:00 A minibus full of passengers at the exit from Nablus. They waited an hour in line. The IDs are checked quickly through the windows, without making the passengers step down. Things seem to start moving. At this moment there are no pedestrians passing.15:15 A., from the DCO got back to me. He cannot interfere with the arrangements, but promised to check again if he can reinforce the soldiers.15:33 The passengers of a bus, from which the youngsters were taken off, went through a quick check and returned to it after it waited for them 50 meters away, for half an hour. From where I stand, I can see the last cars in line going west, what means that the line got significantly shorter. 15:40 Beit Iba is behind us. In a few minutes we will pass again by the faces of many of the people that passed there two hours ago…15:50 Jit junction – 50 cars are waiting to go north. No cars from east to west. We stopped to see what was going on. Nadim and I are afraid of the settlers, but our two partners insist to go. A message that arrived form someone who heard on the radio that "a kid was caught in Huwwara with a gun" stopped the argument and convinced all of us to go on to Huwwara immediately after we notified R. about the roadblock in Jit. He promised to check.