Anabta, Beit Iba, Jit

ANABTA, BEIT IBA, JIT Sunday 26 December 2004 AMObservers: Dafna A., Naomi K. (reporting) colour=red> SummaryTraffic flowed well at all the checkpoints, the soldiers were courteous, and there were no special incidents. There seemed to be a more relaxed atmosphere, perhaps because of the upcoming elections within the Palestinian Authority.08:30 Anabta There were some seven taxis waiting for passengers to Ramallah at this unmanned checkpoint. There was lively traffic of people coming from Nablus. Drivers complained of a long delay at an unannounced checkpoint at Jit . 09:10 – Beit Iba A large number of people arrived by bus. The soldiers were efficient — in particular the representative of the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] and people went through fast. There were only two detainees who, according to the soldier, “were suspicious” and were being checked. [Detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. The detainees' ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. The line of vehicles was short.On the way back we passed Jit and the checkpoint was still there.The watch began at Irtah and Jubara (see relevant reports under Tulkarm region).