Beit Iba

Beit Iba, Sunday 3.06.07, PM Observers: Aliya S., Alix W., Susan L. (reporting)Guests: Hanna K., Elliott C. SummaryIt's our first shift in June 2007, the occupation is now 40 years old and the horror stories continue unabated. After an early morning raid on Nablus yesterday, when buildings were destroyed, electricity, phone and sewer lines ruptured, by the IDF, Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said, "Israel has been ruling the Palestinian people for 40 years, and what is happening to Nablus is out-and-out war… a new crime in the context of Israeli escalation against the Palestinian Authority and people." Another report quoted Barghouti: "Israel... is choking the city with barriers." But the "choking" can equally be applied to the mindless rules, the endless waits, the uncalled for collective punishment and the senselessness of what goes on in the name of security – everything, to our minds, prolonging, rather than ending the conflict, and everything for the benefit of the settlements.13:35 On the way from QalqiliyaA military jeep sits parked across the roadway west of the checkpoint (the terminal type structure); no other checkpoint, as reported last week, visible otherwise, but a long line of vehicles lined up to leave the OPT.14:10 Jit JunctionThree vehicles waiting to be checked, coming from the East. As we turn round, near the turn off to Sarra, we note that there's a large, red and white "no entry" road sign, plus words to the same effect in Arabic, English and Hebrew.15:00 Beit IbaFrom the Huwash Brothers and from two ecumenical workers, leaving Nablus, we learn of the IDF's latest deadly forays into the city. One of the Huwash Brothers' cousins lives in the "old city," and his home was damaged again, just not as badly as in 2003. The ecumenical workers report that no soldiers were visible earlier today, but that repairs were being carried out to sewage, phone and electricity lines damaged last night. As we arrive at the checkpoint proper, a passing Palestinian tells us to "look at the traffic from Nablus." The line of vehicles is endless, uncountable, but the checking neither that slow or that thorough. For instance, a Taneeb bus is entered by two soldiers, one of whom picks up three or four IDs (of young men), checks these against the list in his hand and returns them to the driver – two minutes, but much, much longer in the queue! From Deir Sharaf, never more than three our four vehicles during our shift.Very few pedestrians today. The students are on vacation. A fully veiled young woman is taken into the lock up by one of the military policewomen and searched, but clearly only in a cursory manner (still, the humiliation is just as bad). The bags of those that do pass are checked as usual, with one innovation: a soldier now kneels on a stool, so that he can better peer, from above, into the bags proffered for inspection! Needless to say, gun, in the non searching hand, is pointed, as usual. On the other hand, under the low key leadership of Second Lieutenant A., things run smoothly. Even A. is baffled by the detainee, a young man, an engineering student at An Narjah University, who's already been detained for a couple of hours. His sister and two male family members are "visiting" him (all are from the village of Beit Iba, just beyond the checkpoint, in the Nablus direction.). Today we see the helplessness of the army in the face of the GSS (General Security Service). It's they who call for Mohammed's detention, and neither A., nor the lieutenant from the DCO, who arrives twenty minutes after us, are able to achieve much.15:15 A., the commander hands a mobile phone to Mohammed, telling him "it's the Shabak," and we see Mohammed talking, and smiling, into the phone. We learn that all he is asked are some questions about himself. 16:00 There the matter rests, and there things remain, in spite of numerous attempted phone calls by A., and discussions also with the DCO representative.One final note: in this high tech army, four soldiers arrive half way through our time there, and three of the four climb up over the top of one non turning turnstile and fiddle with it for a few minutes, remaining there as if in some gym! A little while later, they clamber down and leave. Things remain the same, always the same under this endless occupation.