Beit Iba Checkpoint (entrance to Nablus), Thursday, 28.2.08

Observers: Shoshana Z, Biria L, Nina S (reporting)

08:50 – a quiet morning. Few vehicles in line to enter. Passage is fast. There is a dog and minder.

At the entrance to Nablus we meet a man, who tells us tyhat at Jit (on his way from Sara to his job in Kfar Sava (in Israel), at 04:45, a soldier stopped him, took his ID card and work permit and left... Though he waited two hours, they did not return his papers. It seems that it was forbidden for him to leave Saara to Jit. Finally he gave up and continued to Beit Iba and, at the checkpoint, asked for help. Now he has waited more than two hours for the matter to be clarified.

09:30 – we are told that the ID is on its way, and will arrive within quarter of an hour. After 40 minutes it is still on its way. The man works in Kfar Sava and lives during the week in Qalqiliya. Yesterday, he travelled from Qalqiliya to his home in Sara to take part in his six year old daughter’s celebration for achieving distinction at school, and today he must return ton work. For this he is being "punished" by nerve-wracking runaround and the loss of a day’s work. Anyone living in Sara and wanting to come out in the direction of Qalqiliya early in the morning – the only way to do so is in a private taxi at a cost of 70 shekels.