Hawwara, Thursday, 25.8.05 AMWatchers: Eliane N. Tsvia S. Mickey P. Tal B. (reporting)07.30 Za’atara crossroad: Ten Palestinian men are detained in the parking lot. Their taxi is detained and blocks the road from Salfit to Ramallah-Nablus. At the crossroads, a “battalion” of about ten soldiers, two jeeps, a soldier responsible for dogs, a dog and a police car are running around. The Palestinians, workers who were traveling from Khefin via Jubara to Ramallah, said that they had been detained for an hour and a half. The soldiers explained to us that the car was suspicious and the dog had identified ammunition. They invited an millitary sapper to examine the car. In the meantime, they direct all the traffic through the parking lot without checking cars at all.The settler who operates the nearby kiosk shouts curses at us, but the soldiers keep him at a distance. He continues and tries to convince a policeman to get us to move, but although they seem to be pals, the policeman asks him not to annoy us. 07.45- Tal and Eliane go to check the line that has formed from the direction of Nablus to Ramallah.There is a line of ten cars. The examination is quick – only checking the identity card of the driver. Some of the cars pass with no examination at all. It only takes the cars about five minutes to leave the crossroads.08.15- The car with the millitary sapper arrives and they dismantle different parts of the [Palestinian] car in order to find the ammunition that the dog smelled.08.20- The soldier who is guarding the workers suggests that we go to bring water for the workers from the soldiers’ post. Tal acts on his suggestion. We bring them water.08.35- We decide to travel to Hawwara and exchange telephone numbers with the detainees in order to keep up with what is happening.08.50- We contact the taxi driver who informs us that the car and the workers were released.What was the whole thing about? We think it was a training exercise for the soldiers. They embrace the settlers and cause trouble for the Palestinians.08.55 Hawwara: quick pedestrian crossing. The examinations are quick and efficient. The carousels are open and people do not get caught in them.There is a long line of cars leaving Nablus. The X-ray device is there. There is another line only of cars.09.05- We look at the time it takes for a bus with passengers to get through. It finally left at 09.25 – after waiting a full twenty minutes.09.25- A second line is formed and two cars leave. The rhythm speeds up a bit.09.50- For some unknown reason, the cars are again in a single line for examination. I. claims that he lacks an adequate workforce. If he continues holding a second line open, he will have to staff it with soldiers who have already worked for ten hours. Despite the fact that we understood the soldiers’ distress, we did not agree that the Palestinians had to pay the price. We phoned E. the company commander, and asked him to send reinforcements of soldiers who were “not tired”.10.00 – 11.00: And again, by some miracle – two lines were organized for checking cars. A bus arrives and is checked quickly – seven minutes, and it is able to go on its way. Pedestrian passage continues to be quick and efficient.10.20- An army hammer drives quickly into the checkpoint from the direction of Nablus. Two soldiers get out with rifles ready for action. I. runs toward them and apparently asks them not to drive so quickly. Later we discover that they went on to carry out an operation in the open area where there are taxis and stands.11.00- We leave Hawwara. We stop in the open area with the taxis and there the owner of one of the stands talks to us. He tells us that the army hammer passed the area. Two soldiers got off, ordered them to close the stands quickly and kicked the boxes of fruit and the cases with bottles of drinks; they threw bags of peanuts on the ground, and went away. The vendors did not leave. Some closed the stands for a short time until they could see what would develop.We phoned E. the company commander, to report on the soldiers’ brutal actions. He promised that he would check.11.20 We exchanged telephone numbers with one of the vendors and we asked them to notify us if the soldiers came again.10.30 Beit Furik: Tsvia and Eliane traveled to Beth Furik. Because of some trouble with the car when they were on the way, they could only be there for a short time. The checkpoint was deserted. Four soldiers stood there. Five people and two goats crossed the checkpoint to Nablus – the examination was slipshod and the passage into Nablus was quick.Friday, 26 August, 2005We spoke to the vendor from Hawwara on the phone. He claimed that the hammer came back in the afternoon – at 1600, and the soldiers again acted brutally. We telephoned the DCO and the brigade. There we were told that they had talked to the soldiers and told them not to act brutally. But it turned out that the stands were supposed to be closed down on the instructions of the brigade commander – and why was that? Because they are near a point where the settlers hitch rides, and there was apprehension for their security.This was at the command of the lords of the land – and who would dare to perturb their tranquility, and who would dare not to embrace them?After all, it is said: a Jew should never banish a Jew, but it is a solemn duty of the lords of the land to banish Palestinians, to overturn their stands and to rob them of their livelihood.Naomi L. and Daphne B. will try to bring this matter to the attention of Members of the Knesset and the media. We should perhaps think of additional measures.