Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sun 22.2.09, Afternoon

 Translation: Tal H. 

Tapuach Junction Checkpoint - 15:00

No detainees, no vehicle waiting lines, just hordes of colonsits at the hitchhikers' posts.

Huwwara Checkpoint 15:05

X-ray truck present but inactive;

DCO representative - Assem. Approaches us to remind us he's here if we need his intervening.

A 'normal' police car and a white DCO jeep screech  tires speeding along the dirt track parallel to the checkpoint on its eastern side. The taxi drivers tell us policemen gave one of them a 1500 shekel fine for overriding the white line by one meter. Another driver who took two passengers more than the allowed number was fined for 2250 shekels. In other words, Israeli law is not applicable in the occupied territories, but it is. A reminder.

Pedestrian waiting lines are shorter and faster than usual today, and empty quickly, luckily - for it is a biting, bitter cold. About 20 vehicles waiting to be checked coming out of Nablus, the line here is also shorter than usual.

A detector-dog and its trainer do random checks. The DCO representative tells us he instructed her to hold the dog in her arms while approaching the vehicle about to be checked, so it wouldn't patter around in the mud before leaping into the car and onto its seats.

On our way to Beit Furik Checkpoint 16:10

Facing the entrance to Itamar colony, an APC, next to it a concrete slab with a poster in bright lettering reads "A Jewish soldier is for Jews".

As we reach the checkpoint a soldier approaches us to make sure we know what we're doing and that if we need them, they're here... Next to the checkpoint entrance, on the roadside and the rim of the field we still see the carcass of a donkey that has already been reported several days ago. Some cars are being checked as they exit Nablus here.

And a famished looking, wet little dog stands alone in the rain.

We returned to Huwwara around 16:30, the checkpoint is nearly empty, it is freezing cold, raining, and more than anything else - nothing but occupied.

After 17:00, at Tapuach Junction checkpoint about 20 cars are lined up for checking, southbound.