Beit Iba, Sunday AM, 30.07.06Observers: Zvia S., Rachel M., Rachel A. (reporting)9:30: Long line of vehicles signals the beginning of the problem. Afterward, a lot of people. Hundreds of people filling the whole area on the far side of the checkpoint itself. An almost frightening sight of so many people. The soldiers try to control the mob which has already been standing there for a long time. Hot, sun, crowded, pressure. It is not clear what is happening and why. The crowd moves from side to side in an attempt to get through; the soldiers, with the help of snorting Hammer vehicles and the pointing of weapons, shouts and kicks, (we observed a soldier pointing his drawn weapon at a crowd. A soldier kicked at some equipment in a man’s hand and sent it flying. A soldier ripped a cigarette out of a youth’s mouth. He, without blinking, took another cigarette out. The soldier shouts, barks and pushes) sometimes succeed in controlling, but the pressure of the heat, the standing, the difficulty for the women and children and the elderly who are desparate, create such a situation of tension that no one knows what may happen next. Occasionally a Hammer arrives with an officer who tries to give directions.The humanitarian needs of the population: babies, pregnant women, sick people, begin to trickle through with our help. Zvia and Racheli don’t stop nagging the stubborn and violent soldiers for a moment. It takes more than an hour from the time we arrived until some of the women and babies manage to pass through. Our phone calls to the humanitarian hotline or any other place are not productive. The soldiers don’t inform the people about what is going on. Any idiot understands that there must be a “security alert” in the area and you can’t know when it will be over. For a few hours they keep saying, “the checkpoint will open in another ten minutes.” By 11:00, when we are finished, the checkpoint is still not open. Racheli, like Moshe striking the rock, found 2 bottles of water somewhere which she gave to people standing there and waiting. Some of them turned to us and begged us to help, or with looks that meant “what are you doing here at all?”, and all other possible variations appropriate to the situation.