Beit Iba, Thu 18.12.08, Afternoon

15:20  No checkpoint at Jit junction.

15:30  Beit Iba checkpoint:  Vehicles and pedestrians enter Nablus without
inspection.  Two inspection lanes operating for vehicles leaving Nablus.  Only one lane
open for people on foot, besides the humanitarian lane.  The soldier at the
checkpoint says that the second lane hasn’t operated since Sunday.  It isn’t
clear what, exactly, isn’t working, since they don’t check with a computer (and
pedestrians can go through the same turnstile and magnemometer).  Debra asks
him what happens when there are many people on line, and he says that they find
a way to handle it.  There’s no DCO representative at the checkpoint.  We timed
how long a bus inspection takes:  One lasted 20 minutes, a second 14 minutes
(in this one, all the men had to get off the bus), and a third 7 minutes.  The
soldier says that sometimes the young men have to get off the bus, and
sometimes they don’t.

People leaving Nablus
on foot remove belts, watches and shoes, and walk barefoot on the dust ground. 
The pedestrian line stretches halfway down the shed, two people go through per
minute, a person has a wait of about 20 minutes. 

About 16 vehicles waiting at the exit from Nablus.  It takes an hour until the last one
is checked.

The inspection on the humanitarian lane is done randomly.  Every few
minutes one of the soldiers tells everyone waiting on line to move back:  three
times in Hebrew, and then he yells in Arabic.

16:15  A second pedestrian lane opens, and closes 15 minutes later
because, says the commander, “it’s broken.”

16:20  The checkpoint commander stands next to the humanitarian lane
and for five minutes has all the women on it go through another line off to the
side.  A man who waited on the humanitarian line isn’t allowed through, and the
soldier makes him go to the end of the main line, and an argument develops. 
Finally the soldier comes over to him and says, “You’re not going?!”, and he
goes.

A man seated on the concrete (after being checked) is shouted at and
chased away:  “Hallo! Ruh! Get down!”

17:00 We left.

There’s a jeep at Shave Shomron.  The soldier at the checkpoint says
they’ll be there until 18:00, and then the road will be blocked.  Debra asks
him what’s the logic of that, since people can leave Nablus without permission via Shave Shomron,
but not via Beit Iba.  He laughs and replies, “There’s no logic to it.”