Beit Iba, Tue 24.6.08, Afternoon

3:00pm

As soon as we arrived we noticed the small number of
vehicles on the lot next to the café, and also in line for the checkpoint. There
were only two lines at the checkpoint, humanitarian and regular. To our
questions, the soldiers answered that they had no idea what this quiet
indicated.

The previous night, we were told by some residents
that there was a students' strike because of the killing of two activists (??of
what organization??)

The line for those entering Nablus was longer than that of those going out. The inspection was very slow and people, including the elderly, stood for a long time in line. We asked the commander to add another inspector and he promised to speed things up. After a few minutes the
commander himself joined the inspection from time to time, and there was an improvement in speed.

When we left, a taxi driver told us that from yesterday they had started to take all passengers out of the taxis, including people over the age of 45. I promised to pass on this information.