Beit Iba, Thu 24.4.08, Afternoon

Beit Iba. Lots of traffic, and very crowded.  Very many pedestrians (students), taxis, buses.  The line of vehicles in the direction of Nablus is very long and moves very slowly.  As soon as we reach the pedestrian checkpoint we’re met with hostility.  “Don’t stand here…go over there…you can’t…stay out of the way…I’ll tell you…I’m calling the police…I’m shutting down the checkpoint…”  And, in addition, a very important declaration, the crux of which is scorn for the checkpoint commander:  "The letter from the military’s Legal Advisor [confirming our right to be present at the checkpoint] doesn’t interest me…”  

On Thursday afternoon students return home and the checkpoint is very crowded, but there isn’t any DCO representative who might have been able to somewhat calm down the hostile soldiers, reservists.  We heard from the morning shift that things were calm in the morning, that a DCO  was present, but that on Thursdays their workday is shorter so they can go home for the weekend…

We stood there silently, without moving.  L., an officer, arrived in a black flak jacket, “I’m not from the DCO”,  claimed that we were in the way because we’re drawing a crowd.  Since there was no crowd near us he understood, and left.  One of the reservists had a camera with a huge lens, and from time to time took pictures of the line and of the people who were waiting in it.

Passage through the checkpoint is very slow.  We stood opposite the soldier who was checking people going to Nablus (sunglasses, sometimes a cigarette), occasionally an ID card was taken, and the people from whom IDs had been taken, and who waited near us, were released in a few minutes.

Sometimes the soldier/photographer took someone younger with him to chase (?) after “the guy with the red and white shirt,” and “the red Mitsubishi.”  I don’t know why, and there wasn’t anyone to ask.  From time to time he relieved the one who was checking ID’s, who left his post to smoke another cigarette.

16:35 the line stopped.  The turnstile is stuck.  A few people pass through the “humanitarian lane.” There are two soldiers by the turnstile; it seems they were brought to fix it.  After about 25 minutes the turnstile is working again.

From a distance we saw two detainees who had been stopped while we were here, but due to the hostile atmosphere we couldn’t get near the pen where they were being held.

 Two volunteers, one Norwegian and one Dutch (I forgot their organization’s initials – their vest has a dove and a cross on it ), praised the work of MachsomWatch; they believe that what we’re doing is very important (“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be able to work either…”).  They told us about a very, very long line on the way out of Nablus, that we can’t actually see.  From the vehicle checkpoint it looked as if the line extended to the end of the shed  but more and more people kept arriving.

Drivers who had waited 3-4 hours as punishment (for dropping passengers off on the road, or for ????) came to collect their documents.  They were sent off to one side.  This happened again and again; finally their documents were located and they went on their way. 

17:00  About 20 vehicles in line to enter Nablus – trucks, pick-ups, 5-6 buses carrying children, the drivers complaining about the wait, especially those in the buses with children who claim they were promised that they wouldn’t be held up.

17:25 We left a very busy crowded checkpoint.