Beit Iba

Beit Iba Sunday January 16, PMObservers: Nofar D., Susan L. (reporting)Guest: Moran K.Summary:Today was a good example of the difference made by a good versus a bad groupof soldiers. Today was a situation where the soldiers' seeminginexperience and possible fear (most of them new at the checkpoint)was evident, so heightening the usual scene's nastiness. Beit Iba14:25 The rain that has drenched the Samarian hills gives way to cold,bright sunshine here. There is a throng of people at the threeturnstiles leaving Nablus, soldiers placed at each one, "supervising"the turning(?), but their function is not clear, either to us or tothem, it seems; a fourth stands at the lane without a turnstile whichhas been closed with barbed wire. This soldier "screens" people there,looks at their ID's there (instead of at the pill box). The reality that greets us today at Beit Iba is horrendous. I amreminded of the video made at Qalandiya: the people - two lines of men,one with women and children -- are wedged tightly against eachother,the men calling over to us with appeals to move the line faster, tospeed their way through the inexcusably narrow turnstiles; tinychildren cling to mothers whose arms are laden with plastic bags andinfants; babies howl, and the overall noise is dreadful. The soldiersseem limp with exhaustion or with not knowing how to carry out theirtask. The one at the barbed wire is really clueless, and the resultantjam on the other side impossible. No one passes, nothing moves. TheDCO is not in sight. The officer in charge, T., whose presence graced Beit Iba for thefirst time last week, and who already then, when there were so fewpeople passing to or from Nablus, showed how impossible he was, againshows his true colors. We've been standing near the turnstiles. Hetells us that it is "forbidden" to stand there, "forbidden" to standin a favorite patch of warm sunshine, "forbidden" to stand at theconcrete barrier (next to the pillbox where the DCO usually positionshimself). As we move toward the "permitted" place, we ask that T.stops to answer some of our questions about the chaos at thecheckpoint today. He tries to dodge these, but I insist. At thispoint, he touches me on the arm, pushing gently. I glower at him and tell him that it's"forbidden" to do that (both as a soldier and as a man). He quivers...Why is there such confusion, we ask? "It's their festival," he retortscontemptuously. (Eid al Adhar, the Feast of the Sacrifice of Ismael,starts on Thursday 20th.) On being asked if there are enoughsoldiers, he says, "there are never enough." But both today and lastweek, this checkpoint has more soldiers than ever at the pedestriantransit points, at least eight.A., the DCO rep., older, more mature, usually calmer than the soldiersaround him, now appears. We greet eachother, but on being asked howthings are, he responds, "I'm not OK" and rushes off to the long lineof people behind the barbed wire line. It's evident he's harassed, isoverly active today.In the detention compound a young man and his 12 year old neighborwho, obviously, has no ID and has little hope of getting through. 3:15 At the vehicular checkpoints, long, long lines coming out ofNablus and going into the city: a lone cyclist wheels goods throughthe checkpoint from one side to the other, seemingly undisturbed bythe soldiers (a new form of back to back); a huge UN semi-trailertruck, waits behind donkeys, laden with boxes - from China - full ofnew clothes for the festival; the usual mobile clinics and a red CocaCola truck are all thoroughly checked by two soldiers who, again, seemuncertain of what they're doing, have their rifles held at the readyover everything they do, and are doing it slowly - thus making thewait even longer than necessary. The soldiers tell the driver andpassenger of the Coke truck, both young men, that they have no permit;when it's handed over to them, one soldier throws it aggressively backon the seat of the cab and waves them on.3:20 A cream-colored Mercedes (not a taxi) pulls up near the soldiers:"Here comes Farouk" one says to the other.3:30 Nobody in the detention compound, we leave for Huwarra (so muchcalmer today than Beit Iba).3:50 A flying checkpoint has sprung up at Jit (not there earlier inthe afternoon), and there's already a long line of waiting vehicles.