SARRA, HUWWARA, BEIT FURIK, Friday 23 May 2004 AMObservers: Hanna L., Nora P., Dina A. (reporting) colour = red>07.40 –The Sarra checkpoint was manned by two reservists. Three vehicles filled with passengers drove by with a friendly wave and big smiles – people familiar to them. According to one of the soldiers, one of the cars was carrying the local teachers.08.10 – Huwwara South (entry to Nablus)There were 11 detainees, who said they’d been waiting two hours. The checkpoint area itself was shaded by a net; but the detainees, waiting in the sunken area parallel with the checkpoint lines, were standing in the sun. They had no water. The mobile tank which was there a week ago had gone.Three confiscated vehicles stood at the roadside. According to the soldiers, the drivers had been given slips [certifying to their vehicles having been confiscated , although confiscation by the soldiers would appear to lack legitimacy]. We started a series of phone calls regarding the detainees, water, and shade. The woman soldier who answered us at the District Coordinating Office (DCO) told us: “We’re forbidden to talk to you. Talk to the “humanitarian” hotline.” [The DCO is the army section that is concerned with civilian matters; it usually has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians]. From then on, we called the hotline every 15 minutes in an attempt to expedite the General Security Services [ Shin Bet or Shabak, to use their Hebrew acronyms] check: “They’re overloaded” was the response we got , and then we got the run around, passed from one to the other, all of them “dealing with” the matter; once we came back to the spokesperson of the Civil Administration [another army section!] who, since we’d really annoyed her, told us that the “humanitarian” hotline was just the same as she was and we should talk to them and to nobody else.08.45 Huwwara North (exit from Nablus)The soldiers here were much tougher. Ten detainees had been waiting more than two hours, without water, or shade. On this side of the checkpoint – three bulldozers and heavy equipment were straightening the ground preparatory to building ……who knows what exactly; the officer claimed that it would be a proper shelter “for ‘their’ good.”An officer told us on his own initiative that he had water available and that if anyone was thirsty they could come and drink. We asked him to be on the look-out and to offer the water : not everyone [Palestinian that is] will ask. (One of the stories explaining why the Palestinians had allegedly overturned the water tank here is that it hadn’t been examined regularly and was filled with scum.) We succeeded in getting through the checkpoint a young couple and a teacher who was being “punished” for standing in the line for older men rather than in the line for 16-35 year-olds [the latter line is always problematic since this age-group falls under suspicion by the security authorities]. Ambulances were not being delayed. A woman soldier on duty, T, known to us from previous encounters, was particularly crude and mean-spirited. At a certain stage, she even asked us to help her get the line in order!09.30 – Beit Furik There were nine detainees in the enclosure. No shade over the concrete barriers at the checking stations or the detainees’ enclosure. There was a water tank only on one side, and the officer there justified this by explaining that there was a crowd on one side in the morning and on the other in the evening. N. attached a cup by chain to the water tank.On the slope were three trucks, five vans, two jeeps and two private cars. The soldiers confirmed that they’d been confiscated. Two of the detainees claimed that their vehicles were confiscated at an unannounced roadblock on the way to Beit Furik and that they’d been given a note telling them to return in eight days time.We complained again to the “humanitarian” hotline (which was still “dealing with” expediting the Security Services checks, and the water and shade problems at Huwwara): this time we asked whether vehicle confiscation can be extended to eight days???? We requested a proper official answer since up to now we have only encountered four-day confiscations. The officer in charge, unbending but attentive, admitted that a large civilian population was undergoing great suffering. The word “suffering” was his!A jeep with three soldiers halted beside us to ask who we were. All three then chorused : “Please get us out of here!”10.10 – B. from the “humanitarian” hotline told us that he’d taken “legal” advice about how long vehicle confiscation could last and had been told that there was no regulation about it, and that the length of time was at the discretion of whoever confiscated the vehicle. But the checkpoint officer said it was the battalion C/O who decided on the period of confiscation, and that the aim was “for ‘them’ to learn a lesson.”10.45 – AwartaThe line of trucks here was endless (so long that we couldn’t count because we couldn’t see the end). The two soldiers on duty had been serving in the occupied territories for two years and spoke basic Arabic. They were businesslike, didn’t humiliate the Palestinians and were aware of both the length of the line and of the heat. They allowed a lorry driver with two tons of meat aboard , whose refrigeration unit had broken down, to come to the front of the line. Some drivers seemed to be known to them and they let them through with a friendly wave of the hand. We made a last swift check on both sides of the Huwwara checkpoint: there were six detainees on the north side and five on the south, all waiting to have their documents cleared by the Security Services.