Hawwara, Sunday 24.7.05 AMObservers Sharon P., Yael B., Christina A. (visitor) and Shely M. (reporting)Hana K.translatingResume: The Tapuach Junction is almost empty, superfluous harassement at Hawwara (especially at the vehicle crossings), a stupid and defective treatment of a detainee, and a frustrating visit at the Liaison Administration.07.30 Tapuach Junction: there are 8 cars waiting to pass. According to one passenger the wait lasts 20 minutes. The same man also claims that he has not been working for a whole week as he always sent back. This time, luckily, he passes.07.50 Hawwara: The traffic at the checkpoint is sparse, about 20 people behind the turnstiles. On the other hand there are many cars in the car queue (we were unable to count, as we cannot see the end of the line). Busses are waiting many hours, all the men below the age of 45 are made to leave the buses and are thoroughly checked as well as all their belongings (these are busses on their way to Jordan, so they are loaded with many suitcases). The passengers report on a waiting period of two hours in the queue.One of the girl soldiers (holding a dog) asks us to move to the other side of the checkpoint “the checking system simply is a military secret”. We oblige with a smile, and the girl exposes the “secret” to a long line of Palestinians, but not to us… The checking of the busses is performed very slowly.At the checkpoint there is one detainee on his way to work in Ramallah. He is being detained as there is a suspicion that his papers are false and he is now waiting for the Blue Police. He claims that he has been waiting from 06.30, according to the soldiers it is 20 minutes (an hour later they claimed that it was 30 minutes). When we call the police station at Ariel it turns out that they are not even conscious of his existence, and at 08.40 the commander explains to the girl soldier that because the police has no forces to send over, they intend to try and arrange the matter through the Liaison Administration. In the end he is released at 09.30 and sent on his way, for no apparent reason. He tells us that he found work at Ramallah after six months of searching and that this is his first week, and that now he fears that he might lose his job because of the delay.Two new regulations at the checkpoint:1. It is absolutely prohibited to cross over from the left side of the fence in the direction of the checkpoint, only from the right side. Whoever crosses from the left side has to return and go the whole way back (there are no shortcuts) and cross again from the right side. At the beginning the soldiers drew signs with arrows and whoever didn’t notice them would bear the consequence. What is the idea behind this? “This is the brigade commander’s order”. “What is the logic behind it?” “This is the army, there is no logic, this is the brigade commander’s order”. Some time later a taxi delivers at the end of the path, near the checkpoint, a sick woman who returns from hospital, leaning on her husband. The soldiers tell them to go back and approach again on the “right” path. When we try to interfere on their behalf, the same words are repeated like a charm: “these are the brigade commander’s orders, brigade commander’s orders”. Finally, as a compromise, the woman was allowed to stay where she was and her husband was checked at the exit checkpoint.2. The x-ray machine has disappeared and the checking of the bags is done by hand within the concrete tracks of the checkpoint, on the right. In the morning this proceeded peacefully, as the traffic is sparse.10.00- On our way to the Liaison Administration a young man, whose papers were confiscated by a reservist who, in turn, has lost them, accompanies us. The man had been in contact with Naomi L. he has all the necessary details, including the phone number of the reservist who is prepared to bear witness on his behalf. He wishes to file a complaint regarding the loss, so that he won’t be forced to pay for the new documents. When we meet he tells us that when he told the soldiers that we were waiting for him, he was detained on purpose. When we reach the Liaison Administration and I explain the matter to the soldier at the entrance he asks: “what is the matter, are you his babysitter? Why do you come with him? Just to complicate things? What is the matter, do you really believe that he cannot manage on his own?” The feeling is that we are making things difficult for the young man, and he decides that he would enter on his own. Later he calls and says that after we left he was told to go and look for the documents at Kilkilya (exactly what we were trying to prevent). I feel very sorry.Except from this frustrating matter the surrounding Liaison Administration were empty (only coffee vendors) and indside there were about 35 people waiting in the air-conditioned room.