Zaatara, Sarra, Beit Furik, Huwwarra Thursday morning, 29.1.2004 Watchers: Hanna L., Donna B., Snait G. (reporting) 3 days before Id al-Adha (a major Moslem holiday). Intense traffic of people and of trucks loaded with food. Initially extremely crowded CPs. Many, especially young people in the critical age group, were made to wait indefinitely for clarification of their IDs going out of Nablus and at Burrin junction, due to security alerts. 7.20, Zaatara Over 40 people, about half of them women, waiting in 2 queues; around 40 vehicles – trucks, buses, vans and a few cabs waiting behind them. Two IDF soldiers checking them, doing this relatively quickly and efficiently; they were reasonably polite. They simply did not manage to cope with the stream of people and vehicles. The soldiers told us that Nablus was under upgraded encirclement [closure to incoming & outgoing passage], and thus people coming out of there should be prohibited from proceeding any further. We called about 4 DCO [IDF Civilian Administration office] phone numbers, with no result whatsoever (no answer). We called again a bit later and asked for a few more soldiers to be brought there. The army replied they can’t because there were “security alerts” all over the area. 7.45, Sarra The place was almost completely deserted. 3 women who had been waiting next to the new concrete barriers were allowed to pass. 2 young men from Sarra who had been waiting since early morning were not allowed through.We overheard a conversation between a Jeep commander and the 2 IDF soldiers on duty, from which we gathered that 3 Palestinians had been caught earlier and were being detained on the hill in a small hut (a place we were not allowed to go to). We notified the Humanitarian Center. It turned out that these young people were caught without IDs and the data they had told the soldiers did not fit in with their photos. The Center promised to follow the case. 8.15, a “rolling” [unscheduled] CP at the junction to Burrin from the Huwwarra road.All vehicles were being checked. Next to the fence, 17 people between the ages of 16 and 45 were waiting for the return of the IDs (including those with magnetic cards – security clearance passes), being checked by the GSS [Shin Bet; Security Service]. After going back and forth between the Palestinians and the soldiers (who were pretty much polite and matter-of-fact towards the Palestinians) we learned that because of the security alerts, residents of the neighboring villages were also having their IDs checked.We called the DCO and they promised to try and clear matters. The commander who later arrived at the Huwwara CP told us that some of the people were allowed to go. (When we passed by there after 11:00 AM, the last ones were just being allowed to leave.) 8.25, Huwwara South checkpoint No encirclement, but security alerts! Three concrete barriers paths crowded with several dozen men and women. Each path had at least one IDF soldier checking. At least two of these soldiers were graduates of the new special training program for CP staff or DCO officers who spoke Arabic. In the beginning everything went very slowly. Gradually during our stay there, while running around between the two sides, the pace was speeded up. Treatment was correct to polite. Cars passed ok. A bit further down south, there were numerous cars waiting for people who got out of Nablus (traveling for the upcoming holiday). TV reporters in uniforms with cameras and microphones were interviewing the soldiers at the two Huwwara CPs. 9.00, Huwwara North checkpoint Markedly fewer people. Many private cars, trucks and ambulances going through very quickly – being checked by Ofer from the DCO.At the slope next to the CP itself, an area full of puddles, about 20 people were waiting for their IDs to be checked by the GSS [Shin Bet; Security Service] in the office. This was the main reason for the slow checking processby the soldiers. Due to the security alerts, almost all the people between the ages of 16-45 had their IDs sent for checking, including students and this despite the agreement with the president of A-Najah university. The students were (rightly) very angry and upset as all of them wanted to get back to their homes outside Nablus once school ended. We called the DCO office about it and went to Beit Furik. The incoming stream of people walking from the southern CP meant that things were going much faster there. 9.45, Beit Furik All in all 5 soldiers at the CP. 2 of them checking people; separate queues for women and men. Not very many people, and all of them quickly passing through.We went back to Huwwara South – still many people in the queue (though fewer than earlier), very quick checking, and the separate lanes being emptied fast. 10.30, Huwwara North The IDs people from earlier in the morning were still waiting and new ones joined them. We made numerous calls to anyone possible – and impossible – in the army, at the DCO offices (where there was no answer for a long time). Finally we got through people in the IDF to the office which deals directly with the IDs, and after some strained but hard talk they promised to send back to the CP all the ID clearings in 25 minutes. We told the people. We told Ofer about it, asking him to check on that as we had to leave. 11.10, Burrin junction and Zaatara On the way back the rolling checkpoint at Burrin junction was still there, but the people from the morning had been finally released, no new ones. No people at all in Zaatara, around 8 cabs all moving forward, being checked quickly.While we were there the news arrived of the suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus, and the younger soldiers tensed up markedly.