Beit Iba

Beit Iba Thursday 4/1/07 PM Observers: Smadar H., Yasmin R., Deb L. (reporting) Restrictions: No group restrictions on movement. No flying checkpoints on the way to Beit Iba or back. We are told that although there is no CP at the Jit junction itself, there is one further south. Pedestrians: Today most Palestinians are still on holiday. University students have not returned to their studies. There is a steady flow of pedestrians but no long lines are formed. The majority seem to be families that are visiting relatives. There are a lot of mothers with their 5,6, or 7 children . It was difficult seeing how they had to drag their bags, their tiny babies, and their little children across the 500 meters from the point of transportation on one end of the checkpoint to the point of transportation on the other end. In addition to the big families, were the handicapped; injured; sick or tired; and the older men and women with canes leaning their arms on a grandchild, other family member, or a friend trying to make it across the checkpoint stopping every few steps to take a breath, the pain and effort marked on their faces. The checking is arbitrary. Sometimes those going to Nablus are checked and sometimes not. Occasionally a young man coming from Nablus is asked to lift his clothing until his belly is bared. IDs and bags are checked. There is no humanitarian line but there is no waiting on line. The MP woman in the checking booth suspected one woman coming from Nablus and had her go into the closed cell in order to check her more thoroughly. Her husband and young daughter waited on the side, the shame and embarrassment of it all apparent in their demeanor. Vehicle Traffic: The vehicle traffic to Nablus is not heavy. If a line of cars is formed, they move quickly through the check point. When we arrive, the 8 vehicles on line to Nablus pass through within 8 minutes. The vehicle traffic from Nablus is heavier with the maximum being over 20 vehicles around 15:00. We can’t always see the end of the line even when the traffic commander allows us to get a bit closer. From the checking we did, a vehicle on the regular line waited for an hour at the beginning of our shift and about 14 minutes near the end. Between 15:13 – 16:01 thirty-nine vehicles passed through the CP from Nablus. This comes out to a bit more then a minute per vehicle. However, because the humanitarian vehicle line goes more quickly and gets priority, this is not the true indication of how long a vehicle on the regular line has to wait. Detainees and complaints: There were no detainees during our shift. There was a complaint from workers that the CP only opens at 6:00 in the morning when they would like it to be open by 5:30 so they can get to work on time. We called the Army Hotline to complain about this.Bits of Conversation: The soldiers at the vehicle checking post want to know if we heard that yesterday MachsomWatch left a back pack at the CP. The soldiers thought it was a suspicious object and closed the CP. As a result a man who was in an ambulance died. We were devastated to hear this. We later learned that this was not true. Zackaria who is the Physicians for Human Rights representative from Jit visited us at the CP. He had been here at Beit Iba during the incident. He had tried to get the soldiers to let the ambulance through. He was the one who called Nadim and discovered that the bag belonged to MW. He told us the man in the ambulance had not died and he even stopped an ambulance on the spot and checked again with the drivers about the story. We wonder why the soldiers were told this story. Was it to show how MW makes life more difficult at the CP?? A Palestinian man coming from Nablus tries to make conversation with one of the soldiers as he is being checked. Smiling, he says to the soldier, “We both believe in one God. We are the same. ” The soldier says very indignantly, “What are you talking about? We have our God and you have yours.” The smile was wiped off of the man’s face. But Yonaton the commander of the CP says to the soldier,” What, you don’t know it’s the same God?.” The soldier says, “You want to tell me that our God from the Bible is their God, too?” Yonaton starts to talk a bit about the Koran and its origin. The Palestinian’s smile returns to his face. A young Palestinian boy came up to me and said in broken Hebrew, “ Life is not good. Soldiers are not good.” As I was listening to him a very old woman limped by very slowly and asked in perfect Hebrew, “How are you?” I said,” And, how are YOU?” She said with a smile, “Blessed be his name.” and continued to limp across the checkpoint.