Huwwara, Beit Furiq 13/3/2004 We were a big group that used the same transport to cover Nablus checkpoints, and this is a compile of the three reports written by Vivi S. for Huwwara, Victoria B. for Beit Furiq and Angella G. about an incident of transport violation. HuwwaraWatchers: Nurit L., Amalia W., Vivi S. (reporter) The report was written before the announcement on the news about the explosive found in the bag of a ten years old boy at Huwwara checkpoint. It is appalling from every point of view, but what is clear is that the incident will star in a distinguished role when we will come to tell the story of the checkpoints. We will certainly find more ways to steal and waste what is left from the miserable childhood of the miserable Palestinians children.As expected after the declarations about improvements of checkpoints, at Huwwara checkpoint we found none whatsoever, not to mention water taps or toilettes but also not any further consideration given to passage regulation and above all no acknowledgment towards the soldiers behavior. A DCO officer, Leuitenet Haitham — Israeli Arab — used his megaphone to shout and scream at the Palestinians (mind you in fluent Arabic) threatening of stopping the checking if people would not organize in such a queue or other. The soldiers taking after him treated the Palestinians with contempt, and kept calling them stupid and morons.I have to admit that the soldiers as well as the DCO officer were efficient, and the huge crowd we met upon our arrival passed quickly, many people who kept arriving all the time did not have to wait for long. The soldiers also showed some considerations for humanitarian cases. But when coming upon a medical case that needed independent self-judgment, the soldiers displayed total ignorance. That was in the case of a young couple who asked to pass to Nablus for fertility treatment. The young man, naturally too embarrassed to present his case, was denied passage when the soldier learned for the first time in his life that men too may need to go for fertility checking. What can be expected from a nineteen old youngster to know about that? At least we could help here after clearing the problem, and the man was let through. To the checkpoint arrived lieutenant colonel Guy, and we complained in front of him about the behavior of his soldiers. He seemed to listen. Some blue ID holders, either Israelis or Jerusalemites, can pass through Huwwara checkpoint. That is in contrast of what we were informed so far, for example, students from east Jerusalem who study at the Najah university, members of mixed families or humanitarian cases like the family who asked to pass to Nablus for the funeral of the grandmother. Beit FuriqWatchers: Hava H., Victoria B. (reporter) Summary: Decent soldiers at the CP (carrying out the usual indecent orders). Trouble beyond the CP, in the Salem-Azmut-Dir Hatab area.People were checked by a polite and efficient CP commander, sergeant Lavi. The commander and a soldier seemed to have considerable empathy for Palestinians. A third soldier was much less friendly. Age limitation — 16-35 — enforced on men. Lavi said that the exceptions are A-Najah and high school students, doctors, teachers and humanitarian cases. We saw only one detainee who disappeared before we approached. We made efforts for two young men who were turned back — a 20 year old in need of a driving license from Nablus (had application form) and a 24 year old Al-Quds student on his way back to Abu-Dis. He said all transportation were from inside Nablus. Lavi said he is not allowed to pass them but gave a phone-number of his commander, who was not helpful. People like these two, from Beit Furiq and neighboring villages, need permits to get to Nablus for any reason, but in order to get to Nablus DCO to obtain the permit they need to cross the CP! When we pointed out this Catch-22 to the DCO office, they said the people should return to the CP tomorrow and wait for a DCO officer. Finally (perhaps a s result of our phones to the DCO and the army Humanitarian Center) a DCO officer appeared and agreed to let the two men in.Transit drivers at the parking lot told us of trouble a short way beyond the CP. The villages Salem, Azmut and Dir Hatab, and the Askar Refugee camp were being collectively punished for a shooting at Askar. Soldiers stand at the entrance to the road leading to this area, and prevent car traffic for some days (a week?); pedestrians have been prevented from crossing for some 1-2 days. “If you approach, they shoot, to scare, not to kill,” we were told. One can see the location from the Beit Furiq CP – the square white house in the valley. People have to walk around that flying CP to the road to Nablus, where they are picked by taxis. We saw an offshoot of that story. Four yellow taxis with drivers were brought to the CP by a different (paratroopers) unit, unrelated to the CP one. The drivers were being punished for picking people who left “illegally” the above villages. An officer, captain Itamar, was very much convinced of the justice and clemency of his punishment, as he confiscated the taxis “for only one week.” In fact, the paper slip indicated two weeks but he mercifully instructed them to come after 8 days. “And if other taxis will not be crowding that illegal parking place, you will get your keys back.” We could not talk him out of it. The drivers’ pleadings for their kids who need to eat did not avail either. Captain Itamar was quite convinced that he is thus fighting terror. Angela arrived meanwhile with the transit driver. On the way to Beit Furiq they were fined by the blue police for driving around a large pothole at a road section with a dashed dividing line (“by-passing allowed”). We shall file a complaint. The driver told us of punishments for a driver with an Israeli license plate, for giving a ride to a Palestinian without a permit: confiscation of his vehicle for a month, 15,000NIS fine, and 1-12 month prison term. That includes giving a ride to your wife, or elderly in-laws. Driving “violation” near Havat Gilad Reported by Angella G. As I accompanied Khader J. (whom MWers know from the demolition of his house last year, which Israelis strove unsuccessfully to prevent) from Deir Sharaf/Beit Iba to collect other MW teams at Beit Furiq and Huwwara, we were stopped by a blue police jeep, which literally drove fast at us from the other direction before two policemen jumped out to aim their guns at us. Khader had crossed a broken white line (not a continuous white line) further back, up the road, to bypass a huge pothole in the road. Victoria later photographed this pothole. The police were not witness to this except from an extreme distance – they knew nothing of the pothole from there, so we showed it to them, but they were unwilling to admit they had made a mistake. The police would not allow me to speak, and ordered me to sit in the Transit. Khader also asked me not to get involved. Once they’d issued the ticket with a fine of NIS 250 (they climbed down from issuing a court summons), I told them that if it goes to court, I will give evidence we had not done anything illegal, in my opinion. I believe we should do all in our power to dismiss this fine, which was completely unwarranted.