BEIT IBA, HUWWARA, Monday 14 June 2004 PMObservers: Ruti K., Maki S., Hagar K., Haya K. (reporting) colour=red>The main problems we encountered: — At Huwwara, many students waiting to enter Nablus or continue on to the university at Ramallah were detained for hours. Numerous phone calls to the District Coordinating Office (DCO) and the Army Spokesman brought no results. R. from the DCO [the army section that handles civilian matters and usually has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians], who called back before the watch ended, was surprised at the situation. As far as he knew, it had all been arranged finally in the morning but he promised to deal with it again next day. In a call to Knesset Member Roman Bronfman’s parliamentary assistant , we arranged that Ruti K. would send him a detailed e-mail on the students’ problem.— At Huwwara South, four settlers were standing at the checking post. According to the soldiers, they were “our friends from the yeshiva.” This seems to us out of order and we gained the impression that only after the settlers had left did the soldiers release numerous detainees.— A woman soldier at Huwwara North was giving women body searches in a special tent with open flaps and a transparent plastic window facing the crowd and the soldiers. The women felt humiliated, and were angry, some were crying. The woman soldier knew no Arabic, and was rude and tough.— The soldiers at Huwwara North complained that our previous watch had been impolite to them and cursed them. They felt threatened and offended, which exacerbated the situation.Huwwara As we arrived we were told that in the morning about 100 students had not been allowed through to Nablus.Huwwara South When we arrived at about 13 :15, some 20 detainees were sitting in the terrible heat without any shade. Some were students from the university in Nablus, others study in Ramallah and live in Nablus and wanted to go home. They said that some had been detained for between four and five hours (the soldiers said half-an-hour to an hour). About half-an-hour after we came, almost all were released. Settlers standing with their soldier friends at the checkpoint filmed us on video.A husband and wife with a baby wanted to enter Nablus to visit her parents. The husband was from Bir Nabala and wasn’t allowed in. The soldier explained to us that they were “cheating” because the husband was carrying the baby, “something no Moslem husband would ever do”. He went on to display his knowledge of Arab life by pointing out that the detainees wouldn’t sit on the ground because that “wasn’t done”. In fact, some were sitting on their bags (to protect their clothes from the grime) while others were, indeed, sitting on the ground. He added: “Apart from exceptions.”A young man from Hebron who wanted to enrol at Nablus University was barred from entry and forced to travel to the DCO, a stone’s throw from the checkpoint if one happens to be on the correct side ; but hwe was compelled to travel there through Awarta (a considerable diversion) to get a one-day permit.Palestinians moved forward in groups: women, old people, the young. When the soldiers shout “Hatiar!” (old men), the 36-year-olds move forward…[ the “young” and suspect are aged 16 to 35 and have little chance of going through he checkpoint without being detained for some considerable time while a security check is run on them]. Huwwara North Checking of the women in the tent was random, according to the soldier, but whenever the tent emptied, more women were sent. Hagar succeeded in persuading the woman soldier to conduct a less invasive check, while she, rather than they, held the tent flaps closed. At any given time there were about 10 detainees, including a sick man who seemed to be half-fainting; he had a referral to a doctor, but he had not followed all the necessary procedures (the doctor must contact the hospital, the hospital must call the DCO, and the DCO must call the checkpoint). In the end he was allowed to stand in the shade; in all, he spent about three hours at the checkpoint.Two drivers whose cars were confiscated a few days ago arrived bearing scraps of paper with the date of release – today. The soldiers looked at the papers and told them to come tomorrow.Beit Iba When we arrived, we found 15 detainees, some of them already here for four hours. They were jammed together like cattle under a canvas shelter, some sitting on the barriers. They were gradually released, called up one by one and the officer, M. lectured them one at a time. There was a NCO from the DCO who seemed unsure of himself and sought M.’s approval for everything he did. An ambulance was strictly checked; but an ambulance with a corpse went through fast. Among the detainees was a taxi driver, who’d crossed the sacred line [beyond which the cars are not meant to go before being checked], and said he had done it to bring a sick woman from an ambulance into his taxi. His punishment – confiscation of his keys and licence. We tried to intercede with the commander but received long explanations. Soon after, the driver told us someone had taken his taxi. We were shocked, but he said maybe his friends had taken it. The soldiers were furious when they discovered it was gone. At 20:50 we were informed by telephone that the driver was still there at the checkpoint, the keys had been returned to him, and the documents by some miracle had reached his home and now he wanted to talk to one of the soldiers who wouldn’t reply. End of the story.There was an unannounced road block t between Beit Iba and Jit junction with some 15 cars, trucks and buses on either side.