Beit Iba, Tue 21.10.08, Morning

Beit Iba

7:25  The pedestrian lane for people leaving Nablus is almost empty.

A number of vehicles are on line.

Considerable pedestrian traffic to Nablus; the people aren’t inspected.

There’s a holiday atmosphere among the soldiers, sloppiness, they stand around in little groups, chatting and laughing.  Or filling bottles with water and juice from the containers opposite the inspection booth for the fast lane.

A soldier leaves the fast lane, holding documents belonging to an elderly man.  He talks and laughs with his buddies in the computer station.  The Palestinian get confused, and starts walking to the end of the line.  The soldier yells at him: “Wow, back! Back! Ir’ju l’warra!  A minute later he returns to his place and motions with his hand to the man: Ta’al, ta’al hone.

No detainees.

A
truck drove through slowly, but wasn’t even stopped; its belongs to the
quarry nearby, and the DCO representative made special arrangements for
them so they don’t waste their whole day waiting to go through the
checkpoint.

One of the turnstiles began beeping without stopping, and the soldiers tense up:  up to that moment they were smiling and relaxed.

It
turns out that the soldier in the computer station “didn’t think” – the
man who passed through the magnemometer was carrying metal hoops, and
the soldier told him to go through anyway.  The soldier from the fast lane says to him:  Boy, you’re really dumb…  After he left the hoops next to the magnemometer the man went through without further delay.

When we arrived, cars leaving Nablus were going through two lanes, and there was one lane for those entering.  Now there’s only one lane for cars leaving.

“Where’s the commander?”, we ask, and were told, “Around here, somewhere.  Anyway, you’re not allowed to talk to him at all.”  “Where’s the DCO representative?”  “There isn’t any DCO representative.”

We called Zaharan and described the situation, and the line of those wanting to leave Nablus.  He explained:  There’s no DCO representative because today is the Sabbath, but  he still said he’d talk to them right away. 

Two minutes later the second vehicle lane began operating.

For some reason, suddenly the inspection becomes much more rigorous in the vehicle lane that’s closest to the pedestrian lane. 

Lane 1 operates like the bad cop – every car is detained for a long time.

Lane 2 – the good cop.

During the time 5 cars go through lane 2, only one goes through Lane 1.

Life, and permission to go through, are in the soldier’s hands….