Jit Junction, Deir Sharaf, Beit Iba

Jit Junction, Deir Sharaf, Beit Iba, Sunday, 29.10.06 PM Observers: Aliya S., Alix W., Rahel D., Susan L. (reporting) Guest: Neta Summary "Water, Water, Everywhere..." just about describes today's shift in the Occupied Territories. But the water, falling endlessly from the heavens and flowing underfoot with the sound of gurgling streams, reminded us that although Palestinians are sitting on top of the West Bank aquifer, they are forbidden to drill wells to tap the aquifer. Instead, as we have seen, water trucks supply villages near the checkpoints we monitor, while piped water courses freely to the settlements, probably supplying the half dozen cement mixers that we viewed during the course of our shift today to the ever growing settlements. Water is indeed life anywhere in the world, but trying to survive in water stressed areas, such as the West Bank, is compounded by the never ending presence of the army, reminding us that the conflict is as much about water as it is about land. 13:50 Jit Junction It's raining cats and dogs, and there's an endlessly long line of vehicles going down the hill, westwards, while from the east, there are hardly any vehicles at all. There are four soldiers, two at each checkpost at the junction. Their main aim, when we arrive is not to check vehicles and passengers but to engage in the well known game, played by many soldiers we meet, of "You can't stand there" -- wherever "there" may be. But in the end, it's the rain that defeats us, not the soldiers, and although we have every good intention of checking why there's a Tanib bus standing at one corner, just standing there, with nothing going on, the downpour is too great for us to again get out of the car. 14:10 Deir Sharaf The road gouged through the olive groves of our friends in Deir Sharaf shows plenty of Hummer tire marks. The new "security" road is being well used during olive harvest time! Not today, however, because of the rain. Up at the military tower, at the spot where the route 60 checkpoint used to be, barbed wire is now strung across the roadway, so that we can no longer turn around by the entrance to Shavei Shomron! A Hummer pushes its snout out of the entry way as we return down the hill. Outside the mini market in Deir Sharaf, the Gauloises cigarette van that we often see here or at Anabta is engaged in a "back to back" operation with a truck that belongs to a Samaritan, from the community near Nablus. 15:00 Beit Iba The roadway is completely flooded. There is even the sound of rushing water! Yellow taxis and mini buses, as well as trucks of various shapes and sizes are all stuck - because of the huge amount of rain water. The rushing stream on one side of the road is a thick, sickly brown, but the surrounding hills about Nablus are prettily decorated with low lying clouds. People are in good humor, the always immaculately dressed young women, with their high heels and long coats manage to navigate the flood waters - delicately. A new kiosk, selling warm food is opened on the north side of the flooded roadway, and next to it, a man is selling fish, the kind which one can find in any fishmonger in Jaffa, but one has to wade through the brownish water to reach his crates! The checkpoint itself is water logged. Part of our group doesn't brave the waters, but wanders across to the Nablus side of the checkpoint, realizing that a soldier is escorting us (following behind) perhaps to ensure that we don't escape into the city? At the entrance to the checkpoint, fully flooded, somebody, surely not the army, has put down three or four wooden pallets over which people step gingerly, taking turns to go westward towards Deir Sharaf, or coming from there and going into the city. We get a good look at the turnstiles from this side of the checkpoint: not pretty, and the crowding is awful. The humanitarian line is open, at least at this time, but only one turnstile is working. We wonder why? Immediately after this observation is made to the commander, A., a soldier goes up to a non-working turnstile, kicks away the small boulders that are placed against it and, lo and behold, another turnstile is in action. At the vehicle checking station, a bus waits, telling us that the soldier is eating inside the checking booth, so he has to wait! There is a smaller line of vehicles than usual from Nablus, none at all from Deir Sharaf where the traffic jam today is caused by the waters and not the army. The commander and the soldier who had been our "escort" as we walk to the eastern side of the checkpost, talk, while two military police work inside the booth. A man, probably from Shavei Shomron, approaches the two talking soldiers, gives them bottles of soda, and they fill glasses for the next ten or fifteen minutes, talking to each other, seemingly without a care in the world. A soldier approaches the commander, telling him he's off to visit the military tower where he's been waving to the soldier up above, but the commander tells him, "not now." Women are hardly checked at all, and today, now that the university is back in session, there are many. Older men are also usually not checked. Ironically, the only dry place around today is the detention compound, empty.