'Anabta, Beit Iba, Jubara (Kafriat), Qalqiliya, Thu 29.11.07, Afternoon
Another day of despair. One of the problems is the passage open to movement.The road to Azun through Izbal is still blocked. The main exit from Azun is blocked. The exit from Jenin to road 55 was blocked 4-5 days ago.2 barriers at Pondok - the exit to 55 and the passage to the village of Kadum. Jit is blocked by two soldiers at the area going up to road 60 and 55 in the of Jit. (This means that a driver who wants to get to Jit has to go to Hawarra and from there through the road to Emanuel and then back to road 55, 40-50 kilometres in all or to go on road 60 and 57. to go up to Beit Lied, down to Zur, to Azun, to go to the south as far as the village of Toleth, north to Qalqiliya and only then to go up to 55.
13.45 Pondok. There are two barricades. Villagers say that there was a curfew between 11:00 -12:00 probably because they brought in the suspects of the murder of the settler. The driver and the person who carried out the shooting. A man said that his wife and daughters had been forced to go to live with the grandmother because settlers had come to their house in the evening and frightened them. A member of the village committee showed us how besides the new barricades their water pipes had been destroyed. They are angry at what is being done especially as those guilty have been caught. On the way we see an entrance to the settlement of Svut Ami which has already been built and the Shabbat area laid out and it does not look as if anyone is going to stop them.
14.15 Crossroad of Jit. We see the soldiers putting down spiked barriers and Palestinian cars are forced to turn around. "What do you mean you don't understand. Turn your car around and get the hell out of here." Some drivers ask us about byways and Hagar gives them instructions. After about half an hour there is phone call from the Association for Human rights about this.
15.00 Beit Iba. 2 lines are open, an ordinary line and a humanitarian. About 100 people are at the exit from Nablus,there is no line at the entrance and also those entering are hardly checked. 24 cars in all. there are 2 detainees
and a soldier says that they are wanted men. But we cannot speak to them and they do not come up to us. We were told that we were disturbing the traffic so went to an area where there were no people next to the checking area of the lines. When we were told to move off again we replied quietly that we were not disturbing anyone. He insisted but we said he was not the commander and then his friend told us that he could do exactly what he wanted "also to hit you" and said "I can also shoot you if I want to." We were sorry this could not be filmed. We stayed there for a few minutes and then went on.
15.30 Anabta. 40 cars at the exit from Tulkarem.
16.00 Jubara. A man comes to us and shows us a court order from three years ago saying that he is not to be deported from Israel. He says that he came to give money to his sick father and wanted to go back into Israel but was not allowed to because he did not have a permit. He lives in Israel with his wife and two children who are Israelis. They are waiting for him on the road to Taybe and he does not know how to let them know that he cannot get through. Later we learn that he comes every week to give money to his father and has never had this problem. In four days time there will be a court case to enable him to get a blue ID. But now? The DCO and the authorities do not know what to do with the problem. He refuses to go into the occupied territories…..there is a reason for this probably….and so he will have to spend the night at the checkpoint. This is another case where a person falls between two chairs and no one cares. As they told us at the checkpoint, "We have other things to deal with." An hour and a half later he still did not know what to do and we advised him to consult a lawyer.
17.40 A long line at the entrance to Qalqiliya. We left.