Beit Iba, Shavei Shomron

Beit Iba, Shavei Shomron, Sunday, 19.03.06 PM >h4>Observers: Aliya S., Alix W., Susan L. (reporting) Summary It was Picasso who said that, "Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions." That just about describes today's shift - a lovely spring day, marred by tremendous wind and dust and sand in Beit Iba and by a pale yellow sun which peered weakly through the misty haze at the sad spectrum of the havoc that the occupation continues to wreak on the people below. 13:15 On the way to Beit Iba via Qalqiliya -- at one of the larger settlement outposts, Karnei Shomron, we're struck by the bright red tin roof, obviously new, of a large structure perched on the hilltop above us. Striking, too, are the bright red roofs of the older settlements like Maale Shomron or Kedumim, which look redder than ever, as they stand out from the surrounding springtime greens of the Samarian hills, punctured with bright white rocks and pale grayish green olive trees. Jit Junction13:30 -- no more time to marvel at what nature and man have wrought, since we're now stuck in a long, long row of vehicles, on both sides of the junction, amongst which are also settler vehicles. Below us, we can just make out the bomb squad and the familiar robot limping its way across the road. Where we are, Palestinians leave their cars, some are lying on the roadway, relaxing. After all, this is not the typical kind of checkpoint! Only the settlers have to push their way through, don't leave their cars, and seem not to belong to a scene where everybody feels a sense of togetherness. Some distance from us and below where we are stopped on the hillside, we spy an odd sight: a couple of women, clearly not Palestinian. Odd, yet how natural: they are MachsomWatchers! 13:55 -- a familiar bang, and it's all over. Things start to move, but there's a Hummer across the roadway, making it hard for people to pass, slowing everything down. At the junction itself, where it is impossible to stop, two men are seen by the verge, guarded by a soldier, and we learn that they were trying to pass "with a box of ammunition." Stories of such happenings will mark today's shift (see Jubara, Anabta report for today), and probably other days ahead too. 14:30 -- Beit Iba We notice that the officers who were at Beit Iba last week at this time are today stationed at Jit Junction (maybe just for the incident we witnessed), and the soldiers who are here this week are a very different group, exchanging not a word with us. At the vehicle checkpoint, there are four soldiers, two with guns pointed, one with his gun on a tripod (a machine gun?). Same scene (minus tripod) also at the main checkpoint, where a soldier holds his gun while dealing with IDs (not a very efficient way of dealing with checking)! Also at the main checkpoint, two officious soldiers. We note that the table, formerly placed near the concrete perimeter of the main checkpoint, has been moved nearer to the the one working turnstile, and that men, young men in particular, are made to lift up their jackets and shirts, place their briefcases on the table, empty them (usually notebooks and textbook) - the soldier all the while pointing his gun at them. Only after this scene of non-stop "pirouettes" are the IDs checked, and people passed through. Many young men are also asked to raise the legs of their jeans. It goes without saying that young women pass through this same turnstile and this same line, and witness, at close proximity, these scenes: complete insensitivity to what is and is not thought proper in Muslim society. The humanitarian line is open for everybody but young men and women. There the screening for young women and children, for older men and the like is less intrusive, and many people's IDs are not checked at all. 15:00 -- two middle aged, probably professional, men arrive; one is turned back, but the other shrugs, as he makes his way to Deir Sharif, saying his friend will "now have to go the other way to Qalqiliya." 15:05 -- in the past ten minutes, there's not been one vehicle from Deir Sharif, and only a few from Nablus. A bus now passes by the vehicle checkpoint, nobody is pulled out, two soldiers go through to inspect, and the whole procedure takes a couple of minutes. Not all vehicles are asked to turn off engines when they stop at the vehicle checking post. Most are not inspected at all. The dust and gritty grey sand flies thickly, with huge gusts of horrendous energy, from the quarry throughout our shift. The quarry is very busy, the checkpoint's traffic is much less than usual, although there is a steady stream of pedestrians. Soldiers, Palestinians and MachsomWatchers suffer alike from the grim environment. The razor wire that was near the concrete walkways has now been placed, or misplaced, a little further back, and to its razors cling filthy black or grey plastic bags, cigarette boxes and more debris. A piece of the wire has been left to uncoil, and it tends to catch people as they walk. More harassment, more humiliation. 16:05 Shavei Shomron -- the grim greyness of the tall, brand new forbidding wall on the roadway, snaking its way up the hill, northwards to the checkpoint, has a different appearance on the Shavei Shomron side: there we find a wall partially covered in creamy white Jerusalem stone. Moreover, the greenhouses below the wall, only recently dilapidated, now boast a new life with new plastic sheeting -- several yellow license plate vans standing by, as well as a fierce looking guard dog. Both the wall and the concomitant confiscation of land seem to be complete. The roadway is deserted. Not one car. At the checkpoint at the top of the hill, no soldier in the pill box, just a soldier high above in the lookout tower. Facing us, a bright yellow barricade: a cast off from the old days in Anabta? We laugh or cringe silently, noticing that were the barrier to be closed, it would, in fact, close nothing, since it is not long enough to reach the boulders on the other side of the road. We turn round and drive down the hill, noting that a Hummer has begun to follow us but then decides to turn back to the safety of the settlement atop the hill.