Beit Iba, Deir Sharaf, Jit Junction, Za'atara, Anabta

Beit Iba, Deir Sharaf, Jit Junction, Za'atara, Anabta. Tuesday 02.01.07, amObservers: Yifat D., Susan L. (reporting) Summary Tour with an Italian TV film crew on the day when a number of checkpoints and roadblocks were, supposedly, to be dismantled. If anyone is keeping score, in this part of the West Bank, only Jit Junction is no more! 8:15 Beit IbaMany pedestrians, complete families with packages, smiling and seemingly happy on a day after all the rain. A dry checkpoint! Checking is lackadaisical, no people at all coming from Nablus, the rest visiting family inside the city. The soldiers who first insist on a permit for filming seem amused by the Italian TV crew, and then are agreeable. As we leave, a Hummer pulls up, and two men are dragged out of it, handcuffed and heads covered with their jackets. They are marched into the detention compound, and we follow. As is not unusual, the soldiers who gather around the two men cannot find a pair of pliers or a pair of scissors to loosen or then take off the offending handcuffs. Finally, success, the mens' jackets are put in proper place, and the two men walk, unescorted this time, from the checkpoint. We learn that they are both from Burqa, a village just beyond Shavei Shomron, on Route 60, that they and two others were picked up last night, around 22:00, and although they were not interrogated, it's only now that they are set free. As is not unusual, they've no idea why….Deir SharafThe sodden fields that prevented people and buses from moving to the south side of Route 60 during the past few days of rain are no more. Donkeys graze contentedly on the rich green grass by the roadway, accompanied occasionally by a snowy white egret. The TV crew interviews the oldest brother of the family whose olive trees were cut down to make way for a new "security" road ringing Shavei Shomron: no doubt a vivid picture to show on Italian television. 10:35 Jit Junction We can hardly believe our eyes, a huge semi-trailer is being loaded with the concrete dividers that make up this infamous checkpoint. There are numerous soldiers around, several officers and others using a crane to move the ungainly concrete pieces. Of course, we stop, and watch. Nobody disturbs us. Palestinian cars pass freely….. No hasty conclusions, please: a blue police jeep stops every Palestinian vehicle and checks all documents. Settler cars whiz by – business as usual for them, and the checking booths remain where they've always stood, as does one of the concrete dividers (there were two on the northern side of the checkpoint). Much later in the morning, we return this way and find the southern side of the checkpoint being undone, and one of the semi-trailer drivers calls out cheerfully, "What, you again?" HuwwaraMore bustling than Beit Iba. There are dozens and dozens of families with children, everybody making the best of the last day of Eid el Adhar. A worried Palestinian wonders if his wife, who bears a blue ID will be able to get out of Nablus. Sure, the soldiers indicate, as long as it's today. In other words, after today, business as usual. But it's business at usual here today: the sniffing dogs and their women soldier trainers are at work and forbid photos. The TV crew is allowed over the infamous white line, but not the MachsomWatchers who are told, "Don't you know the rules?" All in all, it's an easy day at Huwwara, and traffic too, including Israeli cars with yellow license plates, are let in or out of Nablus, but with thorough checking. Za'ataraThere were rumors that this checkpoint would disappear. Not so. The settlers whiz by, as usual, and we stand in the slow line, with Palestinian vehicles, as usual. AnabtaSince Anabta was also said to be scheduled for dismantling, we decided to investigate and took a beautiful route, from Route 5, near Ariel, over to the Qalquilya road, coming out near Fonduk. Anabta was as always, thorough checking, taxis and back to backs waiting, and business as usual.