'Anabta, Ar-Ras, Azzun, Jit, Jubara (Kafriat), Qalqiliya, Shave Shomron, Thu 8.5.08, Afternoon
A shift on Yom Haatzmaut which comes at the expense of the Palestinians.
Because
of the settlers going up to Chomesh the army calls for a stoppage of
life at the checkpoint of Beit Iba and there are rolling checkpoints so
as to prevent the Palestinians moving in the area. The soldiers call
this disgusting situation a corridor for the passage of the settlers.
The day before we had phoned the army captain in charge of public
relations so as to make sure that our entrance to the area did not
require a permit and that we would be able to pass with no problem.
Our friend G. tells us that since 7.30 in the morning there has been a
checkpoint at Dir Sharaf behind the shop and at Beit Iba there is a
stoppage of life. We go on the winding road to Nebi Elias where the
school children are going home. On the road there are no shoulders and
the children endanger their lives each day because this is the only
road.
13.03 A
jeep at the blockage of the village of Azun and from above we see two
jeeps in the village calling that there is a curfew. The village has
10,000 inhabitants and 15 minutes ago the curfew was enforced and most
of the shops are closed already. People are hurrying home and closing
their doors. 2 border police jeeps are patrolling and one has three
Israelis flags on it. A jeep is at the entrance to the villaga and does
not allow cars through. Two sentry posts watch the village the whole
time and films everything the whole time. Signs saying "May the king
messiah live" cover anything written in Arabic on the road. Some
simply have the Arabic erased. Soldiers at the entrance to Shave
Shomron. One Israeli car is at the side of the road next to the house
at Shave Ami which the settlers have taken over.
13.52
The checkpoint at Jit is manned and soldiers do not allow Palestinians
to go north. All the army cement posts are covered with notices about
the celebrations at Chomesh. "Let us go forth"
Debra
reports that at about 14.00 we got to a rolling checkpoint on the road
to Beit Iba. After the indudstrial area of Kedumiem and before Dir
Sharaf. There were people "ordering", soldiers and police. This was
the same in the industrial area of Kedumiem when we went through from
Jit to Beit Iba. Those making "order" were from the a yeshiva and they
had lists of names. They were not part of the army or the police but
they were those who decided who could enter. And only those on the list
could go in with their cars. All the settlers or visitors left their
cars in the area of Kedumiem and went on foot or by bus. We did not ask
permission from those with the lists but spoke directly to the soldiers
. The soldiers would not accept the permission which we had been given
by mouth by the captain and tried to check for themselves whether we
could pass or not. At one stage we got permission but before we could
pass it was rescinded. Many settlers gave vent to their anger that we
were bothering the soldiers. The soldiers tried to convince us of the
validity of their actions. They had no problem with the fact that most
of the occupied areas had been closed and therefore the mobility of the
Palestinians had been even more limited. They said that where there
were Jews the army had to protect them and besides that the occupied
areas are part of Israel. At 14.25 we gave up and left.
At the crossroads of Beit Lid is another rolling checkpint and
Palestinians from Tulkarm going to Nablus cannot pass and therefore
have to go to Beit Lid. At Anabta the checkpoint is nearly empty with
no cars waiting from Beit Iba or Tulkarm or Qalqiliya.
14.40
– 15.00 We went back to the crossroads of Beit Lid. Hagar spoke to a
man who had left Nablus two and a half hours ago and instead of going
straight from Beit Iba to Beit Lid ( a journey of a few minutes had had
to go north of Nablus though the checkpoint of Asira a Shmaliya and
then north to Chomesh over road 60 and on unpaved roads to Anabta and
then to Beit Lid. Here we say the poster about the Nakba and here the
soldier tried to open a dialogue to give legitimacy to their actions
and asked what our activities consist of. At Jubara the gage was
locked but we got the key and went in the direction of the children's
gate where there was a detainee waiting for the police. The soldiers
said he had been waiting two hours and the man 4. He had a number of
cell phones and the soldiers thought he might have stolen them . At
A-Ras we were told that there were no special limitations and that
there was random checking
in both directions. There were about 7 cars
in either direction. A car stopped for checking went on after a minute
or two.
16.10
We went back to Jit along a new road which joins the village Abush to
that of Kadum. At one of the villages where we stopped to buy
vegetables the shopkeeper did not know that there had been a stoppage
of life atg Beit iba and that the roads round about were blocked. He
said that that explained why he had seen so much traffic on that road
as his village lies between side roads. At the checkpoint of Jit the
soldiers do not allow Palestinians cars to pass. At all the roadblocks
we saw blue police together with the soldiers. Azun was still under
curfew at 16.42 but we did not see army cars.
Checkpoint of Qalqiliya. No cars in either direction. A driver says
that in the morning there had been confusion but now things were ok.
But he said that there was a certain soldier who made many problems
and eyes the women. He did not know his name. Three days ago the
soldier let him through and then shouted at him to stop saying he could
not pass because he did not have a permit. The soldier hit the car with
his weapon and had damaged it and had also hit him and then claimed
that he had tried to grab his weapon and called the police. He had been
arrested and in a month's time had to appear at the court at Salem. He
asked if we could help but we could not
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