Beit Iba

Beit Iba, Wednesday, 1.3.06, PM, Observers: Devorah L., Sarah P., Raya Y. (reporting)Guest: Semadar H.15:10 Highway #57/60, 25 cars wait in line. The traffic is halted from the direction of the Jit Junction (westward), 10 minutes after the attack, which we later find out happened at Migdalim, where an Israeli was killed. The soldiers were frightened and nervous and stood behind the jeep for protection, continuing to inspect from this position. A taxi driver went out with all the IDs of his passengers, while they stood outside and waited in line. Right after the taxi, another vehicle arrived and made a U-turn, far away from our field of sight; he seemed to have driven into the fields. The soldiers stopped the traffic in order to report to the commander and find out how to proceed. 15:20 The commander returns the movement of vehicles as before. 15:30 A jeep arrived which stopped and turned to us, saying that he values our work, but he asks us not to bother the soldiers. There was a Lieutenant in the jeep, who stopped a taxi and took the IDs. When we asked what was happening, he told us that there was a minor traffic accident between 2 Palestinian vehicles, so he had to check out the incident (also acting as a traffic policeman). During the inspection, he claims that he found, in a bag belonging to one of the passengers, video tapes belonging to Hamas. In the jeep was sitting the owner of the Hamas tapes, handcuffed and blindfolded, waiting for a "ride" with the GSS. 15:45 Arrival at Beit Iba after a long stay at Jabara and Anabta, as Devorah reported. 6 detainees. The DCO representative says that this is a security issue and we should speak to the checkpoint commander. He ignores us (explains later that this was because he was too busy). We try to clarify the reason behind the detention. 15:50 Another man put into the detention shed, older. I approach him to find out why and try to talk with him. He seems to be a van driver, who arrived at Beit Iba, was arrested and had to let his passengers go, since he didn't know how long he would be in detention. Meanwhile, one of the checkpoint soldiers approached me and threatened me that, if I don't stop talking with the Palestinian, he would call the police. I moved aside, although wondering to myself if it wouldn't be a good idea once to bring this issue to a head, that is, to continue to talk and test whether or not we are permitted to speak with detained Palestinians. 16:00 Phoned Fuad, the DCO officer, and described what was going on. He promised to check. 16:20 Devorah counted 18 vehicles coming from Nablus, the line seems to be longer, but this was as much as she could see. Within the line are 4 buses, and 6 vehicles at the entrance to Nablus. I also estimate about 80 pedestrians. We ask the DCO to assist the soldiers checking the vehicles, but the officer tells us that, because of the terrorist attack, he is sending soldiers to help at the flying checkpoints. Since he doesn't have enough soldiers, the traffic to and from Nablus is dealt with sporadically. So the traffic to Nablus is halted until completion of the inspection of the cars coming out. The bus inspection takes about 10 minutes. The line from Nablus takes one to one and a half hours. The traffic entering Nablus is more or less flowing. Also women are taken off the buses for inspection. 16:30 4 are released. 16:35 Finally, we managed to speak with the checkpoint commander. He tells us that the driver tried to break through 2 checkpoints (strange); the driver claims that he was in a hurry, but didn't intend to break through. We again found the letter from 2004 against our standing at the checkpoint. We asked why it was hung up again at the checkpoint, and how this letter affects the soldiers there. I quoted to him the article in "Yediot Aharonot" in which the IDF spokesman says that he values our work. We asked them to remove the letter. He gave us the impression that he didn't know exactly what to do with it. Among those going through the checkpoint, we met a father from Salfit whose daughter lives in Lod. She was injured and he wants to visit her. So his wife sent a fax with the medical information concerning their daughter. When he went to the DCO in Kedumim, they sent him to the DCO in Qalqiliya. He was then told that he had to first get a Palestinian permit and, only through them could he get a permit from the DCO. Since he knew this would be a long process, he asked for our help. Devorah turned to the Physicians for Human Rights, but they said that this was not a question of life and death, so they couldn't intervene. 17:10 We left Beit Iba.