Protestors dressed as clowns argue with an Israeli during a demonstration against the closure of the Beit Ebla checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus. (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

NABLUS, January 1, 2006 (WAFA)- Palestinian, Israeli and international activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the International Women's Peace Service (IWPS) celebrated Saturday the new year and their continuous determination to jointly fight the occupation by peacefully taking over Beit Iba checkpoint, north of Nablus.

The activists confirmed, by taking over the checkpoint and crossing it without showing their ID-cards to the soldiers, the right of all Palestinians for freedom of movement, without being at the mercy of the Israeli military and its illegal occupation.

In an attempt to regain control of the checkpoint, the Israeli soldiers started closing the checkpoint with barbed wire and pushing the activists, separating them from each other, and prevented many activists from Nablus from coming back into the city.


Palestinian and Israeli activists, some dressed as clowns, are blocked by Israeli troops as they try to cross a checkpoint during a demonstration against the closure of West Bank Palestinian towns on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Nablus Saturday Dec. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Two Palestinian activists were detained and arrested by the Israeli military, one is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, the other a Palestinian man from the Nablus region. They were released after paying bail in the amount of NIS2000 (Israeli currency) and were accused of having assaulted a soldier, despite the fact that the demonstration was peaceful and non-violent.


Israeli troops arrest a Palestinian protester during a demonstration against the Israeli closure of Beit Eiba checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus December 31, 2005. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini

Beit Iba is one of several checkpoints isolating the city of Nablus and its 200,000 inhabitants from the surrounding villages and the rest of the West Bank, and is notorious for daily harassment and other abuses faced by Palestinians, ISM said in a press release.

As a result of the continuous siege of Nablus since the beginning of the Intifada, all aspects of live in the area are severely interrupted: teachers and students face daily difficulties on their way to school and universities, patients are delayed or stopped on their to hospitals and doctors and farmers are often unable to bring their products to the market. Recently Nablus citizens under the age of 35 are denied their right to leave the city, but depending on what the Israeli army calls the "security situations" this can also apply to all Nablus citizens regardless of their age.


Israeli soldiers hold back Palestinians wanting to cross the Howara checkpoint on the outskirts of Nablus, in November 2005. Israel is to extend a general closure of the Palestinian territories until January 3 because of Hannukah, the Jewish festival of lights.(AFP/File/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

A.D. (21:53 P) (19:53 GMT)