'Anabta, Jubara (Kafriat), Qalqiliya, Wed 3.6.09, Afternoon

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Observers: 
Sarah F. and Didika Y. (reporting)
Jun-3-2009
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Afternoon

Qalqiliya

We arrived to the checkpoint at 1455 and stayed about 5 minutes.

 Eight cars entered while we were there, without waiting or being checked. We did not see any cars exiting.

Anabta

At Beit Lid junction there was a sign requesting people heading towards Tulkarm to turn left instead of going straight towards Anabta.

We continued anyway, arrived at 1535 and found that the checkpoint was closed for construction. The soldiers said it will reopen tomorrow. Both the road and the checkpoint area have been enlarged and new units for the soldiers were built.

Jubara

On the way to Jubara when we passed Enav checkpoint and asked the soldiers to open the gate. We met a man who heard about the new order to prevent civilians from approaching the checkpoints. He tried to convince the soldiers not to open the gate for us, said that we are not wanted at Enav or anywhere else and photographed us. As he was a civilian himself, it is not clear why he thought he was more welcome than we… The soldiers politely told him to leave us alone, asked us to ignore him and opened the gate.
We arrived to Jubara at 1555 and stayed until 1645.
 

There was quite a lot of traffic of cars and pedestrians on both sides.


Few of the people going through are residents of the village. Most of the people exiting are either workers who work for the residents or people whose land is within the village area. The soldiers explained that they introduced a new system for speeding up the inspection of ID numbers – in the morning when people enter they are given a serial number corresponding to the list of ID cards, so when they exit they just need to quote that number and it helps the soldiers find the ID number on their list quickly. It seems as if this system is making things easier.


One man who was coming from the green line without a permit or an ID card was waiting for permission to proceed. He was stressed and was in tears. The first attempt to verify his identity failed because the soldiers got the wrong name. He was given a chair in the shade and some water and someone was brought in to translate. Following another phone call, he was allowed to proceed.