Huwwara, Sarra, Beit Furiq 14/03/2004 Watchers: Donna B., Hannah L., Rona K, Dina A., Snait G. (reporting) General: There were alerts concerning a “bombing materials belt that was supposed to go out of Nablus”. Consequently, all checking at the regular and flying CPs were very thorough and slow, and people waited a very long time, indeed. The soldiers in general were polite. All males were searched – upper part of the body + lower calves – and names checked against a list held by the checkers. As usual, Sarra is a matter apart; (see below). The “back to back lorries” CP to Nablus was closed down and thus numerous lorries went through Huwwara, Beit Furiq and Zaatara, and traffic was extremely congested. Zaatara, 7.20. A long queue of vehicles (17, including many lorries) and of people (more than 20 males). 4 soldiers at the CP, with one soldier giving” cover” for each checking one. The checking was carried out quite politely and without malice or ill intentions but it was very thorough (cabs were emptied of their passengers, upper part of body of males checked etc. We called the DCO office to ask them to send some more soldiers. Around 11.15, 23 vehicles queuing, no pedestrians, one more soldier. Flying CPs along the road. At the entrance to Zeita, an armored Jeep checking people on the road turning towards Sarra (called Ytzhar junction by the settlers); an armored jeep and 6 soldiers checking all the cars that did not go through Huwwara CP (from the various villages down that road). Polite but very slow. From an acquaintance of Donna we learned that there was a similar at the entrance to Madame village. An armored jeep stationed at the entrance to Gla’ad Zer farm (on the “for whites” road to Sarra). Sarra, 7.45. The lower gate was open to let heavy digging and building machinery in and out. The army is building some fortressed position on top of the hill. Upon arrival there was already a group of soldiers who had come in an armored jeep, on top of the ones that stay there regularly. Among them was Lieutenant Amos, who introduced himself as the sum company, commander of that area section. He was from Battalion “Herout”, jeep number 6108003. With rather open hostility he told us that he had “orders from high up” that we could not stay there. Realizing that this ruse did not work, he told us to keep to one side of the road, ”without interfering in the soldiers’ job”. We were allowed to watch only but not to talk with “the Arabs”. As we very soon noticed that he did not let in one of the men waiting to go into Sarra, we talked with two village youngsters nearby, who told us that the whole group (5 men + 1 woman were teachers at Sarra School waiting to be allowed to go to their teaching. We talked with them – some came from Beit Lied and others from Nablus.Meanwhile Lt. Amos notified us that as long as we were talking with Palestinians (“Arabs” in his parlance) the CP would be closed down. We talked with Raad from the DCO about it. We also took the mobile number of one of the teachers, but unfortunately there was a mistake in the number and we could not contact him. Upon follow up with Raad it turned out that a DCO officer was sent from Beit Furiq to Sarra, and Raad talked with the Lt.’s commander too about his behavior towards us and the Palestinians. One of the MW who talked with the Lt reported that he said his mother was living in Ytzhar. Whether yes or no, I personally do not find it relevant. The main issue is not to let it pass on one hand, and to continue our job there on the other hand. Huwwara, 8.45. We split into two groups. Huwwara south. In spite of the slow checking people were moving in a reasonable pace. The soldiers were polite, even sympathetic, and Ofer’s presence there was a great help. We returned to the south after a break of going to Beit Furiq while two among us stayed in Huwwara north. There was a number of detainees about to be released, one of them a fellow who has tried a few times that morning to go through, changing his shirt each time. Non An-Najah students are not allowed through without permit. Huwwara north. Three densely filled paths. All through the morning numerous people – dozens of young males, old males, women and children at any given moment. Many soldiers, not efficient, not particularly polite, very inflexible, and perhaps even without real understanding of the regulations. The CP commander, a young officer named Baruch, was extremely inflexible, and at times it seemed that he was trying to prove his authority( e.g. vis a vis Ofer) by prolonging the stay of the detainees, unreasonable adherence to procedure when checking adult and old people etc. The soldiers at his disposal were not efficiently distributed, and thus there were not more than 2 checking at any given moment. Teachers and physicians were not picked out of the crowd etc.Long queues of vehicles, mainly lorries and vans, and the soldiers insisted on each driver having separate permit for the car. They would give some drivers a chance to get hose the next day!!! Instead of giving them a reasonable time for that. This should be dealt with not on the soldiers level!! Ofer arrived from the other side of the CP and immediately set to check and release the various vehicles-efficiently and with good-natured politeness, as is more usually the case with him. He was talked on in very praising terms by a lot of Palestinians we met. He explained to the soldiers that the drivers ought to be given a month for organizing a vehicle permit. It is unclear whether they actually understood that. We managed, with his help, to organize quick passage for two Jordanians hurrying to make it for Jordan airport. Ofer tried to speed up things at the men’s queue, but was met with the commander’s authoritarian stubbornness. Among the detainees were people who had permits, were teachers or were over 35. This happened apparently because most or none of the soldiers understood Arabic. While we were there and after much negotiation one more checking soldier was added and thin gs mover a bit faster.We drove Donna and her acquaintance to Awarta DCO office, and it turned out that for the last three weeks they had not been giving any permits, the reason given: there is a closure on. People cannot get their work permits for Israel and have to go to Qalqilya for that. A long queue of lorries waiting at the entrance. Beit Furiq. We heard from a person at Huwwara that he had been waiting earlier for almost 3 hours at Beit Furiq. Upon arrival it became clear that the army is building on top of the small hill there a fortressed position similar to the one in Sarra, and another semi fortress made out of the big concrete blocs next to the checking point. 50 men and women waited on the side going into Nablus. They were standing in makeshift lines made of some white materials and stones. Fewer people, mainly old men and women, were waiting to go to Beit Furiq, as well as 7 vehicles, including 4 lorries. Some of the men in the queue going to Nablus said that they had been waiting for around 3 hours.Checking was slow, by one soldier only, in spite of the fact that there was a group of them who, so they claimed, had come with the CP commander to help put “some order”. We did not manage to get info whether “ordering” included other actions. All men were checked in upper body and lower calves; some of the younger women with head cover etc were checked by mobile metal check. All soldiers but one were polite. After some negotiating they added more people, and the queues got markedly shorter. Inside the CP area there were 4 cabs, which were confiscated on the previous day by the army (another company, they said). The commander said that the keys would be brought from the other company and returned to the drivers within 2 hours. We did get a tel num of one off them, but having tried till later in the day there was no answer as to the drivers and their keys.