Beit Iba

Beit Iba, Sunday, 30/4/2006 PM Observers: Aliya S., Alix W., (reporting) It was like we were taking a lovely drive in the country, the weather was great, the view unbelievable, the open, green and lush fields were so calming and inviting, we almost forgot where we were. But then reality hit at the Jit Junction of route 55 and 60, both at the east and north points there was a line of 13 vehicles stopped by the soldiers with boulders of concrete and an awning to protect the soldiers from the sun mark the now permanent checkpoints. We continued to Beit Iba and stopped as usual at the Hawash Brothers Carpentry, today the brothers said that they had no problem passing the Beit Iba checkpoint. Beit Iba14:29The line of vehicles going into Beit Iba reaches the Hawash Brothers Carpentry, there are many taxis arriving, departing and waiting around, much more commotion than the previous weeks. At the end of the line we see a gentleman stepping out of his car to take a look of the wait that a waits him, he shrugs at us, and with a smile says ‘what can we do”? Later at 15:28 we see he passes the checkpoint. As we approach the pedestrian checkpoint Captain G calls us over immediately, ‘take a look at what we just found, take pictures of these’. They found bullets in a plastic bag; the young man is in the isolation pen with his hands cuffed. There are two other young fellows in the detainee pen. We don’t have time to ask what they are being held for or for what length of time, when another young man with a small black bag is grabbed and handcuffed when they find a small plastic bag with bullets in his possession. One of the soldiers tells me that the bullets are of high quality; they look to me like the same types of bullets as the other ones found. He is taken to the side while the soldiers seem to ask him questions; he and the other guy are then taken to the side of the detainee pen to sit, they are handcuffed and blindfolded. There are two turnstiles working today, but they still cannot accommodate the amount of people trying to pass. Everyone is being checked meticulously, even the bags of the women. There aren’t any restrictions on who leaves Nablus, not the age or by their residence. The captain moves the two detainees over to the shady side and out of the sun and offers them both water. 15:15 Now the captain is checking the detainees’ ID cards against the printed sheet. He releases the student who tells us he has been here since 11:00 am, the other detainee has been there longer. One of the soldiers tells us that he is wanted by the General Security Services. 15:28 The vehicle checkpoint is moving very slowly, on both sides, going in and coming out of Nablus, there seems to be a lot of trucks and commercial vehicles, more than usual, we think about it, maybe the Palestinians are anticipating closure for the coming days of Memorial Day and Independence Day, we don’t know but can’t get over the turmoil. One of the soldiers yells at us ‘you are disturbing us, because of you there is such a disorder’. I ask him who created the disorder before we were here. As we leave Beit Iba and turn North West to 557 there are eight vehicles waiting, no detainees and we continue.