Deir Sharaf, Thu 7.5.09, Afternoon
‘They’re excuses’ (a soldier about a young man who forgot his ID and is being held for his details to be clarified. On the slope of the hill opposite the checkpoint a road is being paved (upgrading of the road to Shavei Shomron?) The checkpoints are manned in both directions. Spot checking of drivers’ identities. Now and again a queue forms. As we cannot reach Deir Sharaf itself we can’t find out the cause of cars suddenly coming in a batch. (Is there perhaps, further on, a checkpoint coming from Nablus-Beit Iba?) A vehicle loaded with produce is detained a short while. The commander and a soldier pick some of the fruit, taste it, signal with their hands that the produce is good and he continues on his way. 16.00 We left.
A young man is taken off a taxi on its way to Nablus. The soldier puts his ‘authoritative’ hand on the man’s shoulder, directs him to the checkpoint and does a body search. The man’s brother is waiting meanwhile in the taxi. The brother explains in good Hebrew that they are on their way to buy wedding clothes for his (the brother’s) wedding. The detainee had forgotten his ID. at home. Meanwhile they are asking another brother to bring the ID We approached the soldiers. One of them said ‘I have worked a long time in this. They are excuses. They are apparently from one village and they know that without an ID I can’t check if he is a terrorist or not. It reaches further levels, the Shabak…’10 cars at the exit from Nablus direction. A driver tells us that there is a traffic jam.Someone brings the detainee’s ID and he is released.