Beit Iba, Sun 30.11.08, Morning

Place:

Beit Iba

Observers:

Naomi K., Sara B-S, Orna P. Translator: Charles K.

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Nov-30-2008

Morning

07:30 Beit Iba Traffic flows freely in all directions. No lines.A soldier directs us to the "Machsom Watch square." An officer comes over and talks to us cheerfully about Machsom Watch, soldiers and checkpoints.One of the drivers approaches us and says that at ‘Anabta there are long lines in every direction.

10:00 AzzunTami C. called and asked us to go by Azzun because some residents complained to her that the village is blocked off.
We saw no roadblock. We talked to the owner of the vegetable store near the intersection. He said that on Friday the IDF blocked the village from 07:00 to 15:00. He didn't know why they put the barrier in place, nor why they dismantled it. He said that 50 soldiers moved around the village. We were amazed at the large number of soldiers who came to the village. The vegetable merchant said that 50 soldiers aren't so many, relatively. Today the Palestinian police control the village. During the time we were there we saw a number of their vehicles.

Location Description

Beit Iba

See all reports for this place

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.