Beit Iba

Beit Iba, Tuesday AM 25.1.05Observers: Ruthie C., Maya M., Fanny, Elinoar (reporting)A depressing morning, though nothing out of the way happened. The freezing cold is just a small part of it. A unit unfamiliar to us is manning the checkpoint, not brutally; the commander, second-lieutenant G is simply rigid, cold and indifferent. The new DCO representative declares that his job is "to make the lines flow smoothly", not to mediate between the army and the Palestinians.And the lines do flow, until the commander decides suddenly to check mothers and children, of all people. A woman with identical twin-daughters is asked "both of them are yours? This one? and this one?" and her ID is checked carefully. A few other mothers are checked in the same way, and then things go back to "normal". A problem we noted concerns drivers of cars who until recently were on the Beit Iba list of cars with permits. This list was cancelled and a new one compiled, according to the DCO man because many of the permits were irrelevant. People whose vans were struck out were sent back with their perishable goods, no leniency here.A student who lives in Nablus and goes to school in Ramallah is not allowed to leave Nablus. He must go to the Palestinian DCO and get a permit. A couple whose IDs are being checked by the security service are kept a long time, much longer than the ostensible one hour, notwithstanding our protests.They say God is in the small details? Not here, here it is the devil.