Beit Iba, Shave Shomron, Sat 23.8.08, Morning

Place:

Beit Iba

Shave Shomron

Tags:

Porters

Dogs, dog trainer

Observers:

Micaela R., Chana B. (reporting) Translator: Charles K.

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Aug-23-2008

Morning

We left Jerusalem at 6:00 and returned at 13:00.

Atara: Reservists on duty. Traffic very light at this early hour of the morning. No one is checked. The soldiers came over to us, and we started talking. It turns out that they also talk about what affect standing at the checkpoint will have on the soldiers. One of them, who lives in Sderot, tried very hard to convince us that the occupation is necessary. We found it hard to be convinced.

Za'tara: We didn't stop because there was no line in either direction.

Shavei Shomron and Beit Iba: The "Ganot" checkpoint (where did that strange name suddenly come from?) is open, and there aren't any soldiers there. Free passage. Little traffic at Beit Iba. We stood on the empty lot beyond the checkpoint, and soldiers "concerned about our safety" appeared very quickly, and asked us to move. We politely refused. The checkpoint commander, a 2^nd lieutenant, appeared, and explained that "there are no more Area A and B and C." Interesting…We didn't get involved in a pointless argument and moved to the edge of the lot – it wasn't clear why we would be more "secure" over there – but there wasn't any reason for a fruitless argument.

The dog devoted most of his activity to checking the loads that the carters were moving through the checkpoint. A driver on his way to Tulkarm was also carefully checked. Pedestrians were checked going in and coming out of Nablus

Location Description

Shave Shomron

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The checkpoint is on Route 60 (the main road to the northern West Bank), opposite settlement. Has been blocked to Palestinians since disengagement from Gaza and northern Samaria.

Beit Iba

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A perimeter checkpoint west of the city of Nablus. Operated from 2001 to 2009 as one of the four permanent checkpoints info-icon closing on Nablus: Beit Furik and Awarta to the east and Hawara to the south. A pedestrian-only checkpoint, where MachsomWatch volunteers were present daily for several hours in the morning and afternoon to document the thousands of Palestinians waiting for hours in long queues with no shelter in the heat or rain, to leave the district city for anywhere else in the West Bank.
From March 2009, as part of the easing of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, it was abolished, without a trace, and without any adverse change in the security situation.