'Anabta, Beit Iba, Wed 13.2.08, Afternoon

  Beit Iba .At the entrance are no cars and  at the exit 6 cars. The pedestrians' shed is not full. The humanitarian line is empty. Two turnstiles are open. Checking was routine. People have to do the dance, to go through the electronic gate, ID, and after all that to gather everything and leave. And then to start dressing again including brushing off the dust from trousers, which had gathered as a result of the shoes being taken off on the dirty floor, and to put everything back into the bags. Those coming out look at us wordlessly, sometimes with an appropriate word.

There is one detainee but there is a different story each time about the reasons.  One soldier said he asked to be detained because he was not feeling well and wants the Palestinian Red Cross to fetch him which sounds a bit strange. A passerby says that he knows him, his name is Razi but later it turns out that his names is Haitiem and that he was hit when sitting in his taxi (not true)  and that his hand was broken and he had been pulled out through the window. An accurate description but really not true. And all this he says happened at 09:00 which also is not true. The commander said that he acted violently towards the soldier although he himself was not present as his shift had begun after the event. The DCO representative said that he had hit a soldier in his face and therefore had been pushed and hit. The nurse of the unit had treated him and a complaint had been made to the police who were now coming to take him. At this stage he had been detained for 96 hours.  In the beginning we were not allowed to approach him as we were told that he was not detained but under arrest. Later this argument disappeared and I went and gave him chewing gum. Water he did not want and then I heard his story.

This is the story of the detainee that is the arrersted man The incident occurred at 12:00 and it is now 17.30. The soldier broke his hand and beat him with his rifle on his head. All this happened when he had come to take passengers in his taxi into Nablus. The car is parked on the Nablus side.  4 soldiers ran and pushed him with their rifles and then hit him on his arms and head. "They do not speak with their mouths. They speak with their weapons. His broken hand is hanging on a rag, which he evidently got from the nurse. He has had no food or drink since the morning. His eyes are red and show his pain.  He said that he is prepared to give evidence at any place and to anyone who will question him. I took his phone number and because of the pressure forgot to give him mine. Now we start phoning first to Tammie who says to speak to Rodi at the DCO who usually helps. He says he knows about the incident from the DCO representative who was present and said he would give it his urgent attention.  We return to the detainee who tells us that he asked to go to the bathroom and is not permitted. We refer to the commander who orders the soldiers to accompany the detainee to the bathroom. They obey. 

18:00 We again ask the commander to remind those who need to come and take the detainee who is frozen from the cold, in pain but who cares? The commander gives the reminder. When I ask what will happen if they do not come he says that if they do not appear by 09.00 when the shift ends they will take him with them to the army camp at Horon, which is attached to the Shomron division. Tammie phones the detainee to give him her phone number so that he can let her know what is happening to him. And here we left the commander hoping that he would do everything in his power to deal with the problem. 

Another subject. As at ‘Anabta here to we entered into a conversation with the commander who showed true interest in our story. Here we expanded  the subject  above and beyond our conversation with the soldier at ‘Anabta. I will not expand but only say that he listened carefully. And we think that he took notice to some extent. For the first time today I felt that a conversation with a soldier who wants to listen is very important. Maybe there is some change in the soldiers that they are beginning to listen and to show interest or maybe it is just that this was twice in one day..