HUWWARA, Thursday 10 June 2004 AMObservers: Aharona M., Dina A. (Huwwara North); Yael B., Ofra C., Micky P., Alona C., Yudit A’D. (Huwwara South) colour = red>Huwwara South 08:10 — The checkpoint was inactive when we arrived , the Palestinians said that had been the case for more than an hour. There were three soldiers with guns aimed in every direction . One stood in the middle of the line and two patrolled, all shouting. There were at least 300 Palestinians crowded into three lines of women, young men and older men; 30 detainees; and a line of vehicles. Shortly after we arrived, the checkpoint was re-opened. From time to time the soldiers burst into the line, pushed people back and threatened to close the checkpoint again.One of our colleagues called me as we were en route, to report that someone from Huwwara had called her for help. His son, a high-school student, had been taken by ambulance yesterday to hospital in Nablus. Now, released from hospital, he was at the northern checkpoint, detained, and not allowed to go home. This morning he was due to take a matriculation examination. We met the worried parents who were waiting for us at the southern checkpoint. We summoned a District Co-ordinating Office (DCO) representative who arrived at once and the boy went through. We directed other cases to this officer and he proved flexible and let most of them through. Then he seemed to lose steam, or maybe we’d nagged him too much [the DCO is the section of the army that handles civilian matters; it usually has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians].The soldiers refused to allow a six-year-old boy, who’d been standing in line with his mother, to go through the checkpoint . One of them suspected that he wasn’t her son. The boy was questioned and when asked for his grandfather’s name, he didn’t answer. We insisted that they question him again in our presence, and this time he succeeded and was let through. A Jordanian national who is married to a Palestinian woman from Nablus was barred from entry, but was allowed in when we interceded. Some of the detainees were released after three hours and others took their places.An ambulance arrived with lights flashing to indicate an emergency, and stood at the end of the line. Inside were a woman about to give birth and another injured in a hit-and -run traffic accident involving a settler in Huwwara. We asked that they be allowed to go to the front of the line. [But there was a problem because] the checkpoint takes up less than 50 per cent of the width of the road, the rest is for the use of [Israeli Jewish] Har Bracha settlers and the army. Even in cases of danger to life, diversion from the official track is not permitted. In this case, the soldiers moved the cars and the ambulance went through. Another ambulance came up with a woman haemorrhaging heavily. We succeeded in speeding up its passage.Huwwara North There was only little traffic in the direction of Nablus, about 20-30 people, mainly women, children and old people. Waiting time was short due to an experienced, businesslike and courteous team. There were 10 detainees scorched by the sun, on an area which has recently been levelled. Most of them were en route to the DCO (round the corner, five minutes on foot) equipped with permits and documents. We ask the soldier in charge why they were being detained. He said they had no permits from the DCO. We asked why they weren’t being allowed to go through to the DCO. The soldier replied that they’d already been yesterday. “They’re always going to the DCO. They’re lying, because if they were going there, they’d have permits.” I pointed out (for the benefit of two new watchers) that from my experience the DCO doesn’t issue permits on the spot and Palestinians have to return every few days, sometimes they get their permit after two weeks and sometimes not at all. They go on appearing at the DCO until they give up in despair.The soldier, who turned out himself to be from the DCO, insisted that everyone who made an application there received a provisional permit or a provisional note on the spot. We asked if everybody got one and didn’t wait for his answer.We asked when the detainees would be released and he said that they’d all go through but the policy was to hold them for two hours, to “teach them”, because what if everyone went through? (it might undermine the occupation….) After two hours they were all released apart from one whose papers the soldiers had mislaid. We insisted that they search for them and in the end they were found.A father carrying a little girl (without permits) arrived in a panic at the checkpoint and said the child suddenly couldn’t see. We lobbied on their behalf until eventually the soldiers put them in an ambulance.