Beit Iba, Sun 5.10.08, Afternoon

Shuvat Ami

14:10 – There is no one at all on the hill opposite the house, no
tents or awnings, no settlers, only a few plastic containers and the
remains of trash.

Beit Iba

14:40 – There are more people, taxis and movement from last week.
Only 3 vehicles waiting to enter Nablus, few pedestrians in the fast
lane, and there are about 25 men at each of the two turnstiles, their number increases by the end of the shift. One young man is  detained, who
tells us that he has been there for one and half hours. When we ask
the DCO why he is being held, he tells us that he is "Bingo" - on the
General Security Service's (Shabak) list. Later when he is released,
the young man, who is a student, tells us he is detained every day.
The DCO says he will be stopped and held for 2 hours every time he
passes the CP, those are his orders.

There is a New painted line, this time a bright orange line is
painted around the water tank, with a big W. The DCO comes over and
tells me to stand within the painted square, "It is for you". I
guess the painted `W' is for Machsom Watch, inverting the W to stand
for MW and not Water.

The soldier now checking the people from the fast lane is checking
the women's bags, satchels and IDs. There is no one at the other side
of the booth checking, so the pedestrians entering Nablus walk right
through.

The buses leaving Nablus are stopped, the IDs are taken from the
young men, the men are taken out of the bus, and they walk to the end
of the CP, after about 5 -10 minutes the soldiers return the IDs to
the driver and the bus continues and picks up the young men.

The queues have become longer as we leave.

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