'Anabta, Beit Iba, Jit, Thu 11.10.07, Morning

The roads and the checkpoint were empty.  Very little traffic anywhere.

8:00 - At the entrance to the territories at the Perot Junction, there was a police vehicle stopped to inspect a car with merchandise on it.  The rest of the cars were allowed to pass without inspection.

8:15 - the checkpoint at J'it Junction was not manned.

Beit Iba - the checkpoint was empty and quiet (and full of dust as usual).  Almost no one leaving Nablus.  Every few minutes one or two people would arrive and go through immediately.  At the entrance to Nablus there was a little more action, but also very few people;  they went through quickly with no delays.  The IDs of the men were checked, and the women only randomly, not clear according to what criteria.  It seemed as though they inspected a woman by herself and not when she was in a group.  If that is so, is it or is it not essential for the security of Israel?  Also the DCO officer, Y., and women from the Ecumenical organization said that it was terribly crowded yesterday at this hour, with hundreds waiting on the border of exploding in frustration.  It isn't clear why there was such a difference today.  The DCO thinks that after the University yesterday everyone had already gone home.

By the way, one of the representatives of the Ecumenical organization is a black woman from South Africa.  She says that the situation reminds her of her own situation, 11 years ago.  The constant need to identify yourself with IDs, in every place, and the restriction of certain areas into which blacks were not allowed to go.

Anabta - 8 vehicles in each direction, but the soldiers pass them through the checkpoint quickly and with little inspection.  At a certain point, the line lengthened in the direction of Tulkarm and we saw a lot of vehicles of the UN and those of diplomats from several European countries.  We couldn't find out what was going on, but they went through quickly.  We tried to find out from a soldier in the inspection booth what his criteria were to detain a vehicle for inspection.  The answer was, more or less, that it was according to his "gut feeling", and that is how it looked, although he was pleasant and friendly to everyone.