Hawwara, Sunday 18/09/05 AMObservers: Yael B. and Ditsa Y. (reporting)Devorah K. translatingThe passage of cars at Za’atara and at Hawwara is quite quick; pedestrian traffic also flows better than before. The soldiers at the Hawwara checkpoint act more compassionately toward the Palestinians than they did in the past, but difficulties continue to be heaped on the residents, and the rocks that were stolen from the quarry at Hawwara are to be found in the place that the army decided on – an infuriating demonstration of the sins committed against Palestinians by the Israeli army.7:40 Za’atara crossroads – nine vehicles at the checkpoint on the way east.Thirty vehicles in a queue at Hawwara. They are not checked, except for a bus driver who is required to present an ID. Here and there soldiers glance at those sitting in a taxi, but let them pass without being inspected. The thirtieth car waited at the checkpoint for ten minutes. Three armed soldiers stand on a hill at the side of the road and observe the queue of vehicles.At the side of the road there is a Red Cross car. The driver sitting in it tells us that he has come here to observe what happens at the checkpoint, just as we have. He says that representatives of the Red Cross are observing at other checkpoints as well.8:20Hawwara – Some soldiers from the Border Police come to the checkpoint as reinforcements. They make some random inspections of young people on their way to Nablus.8:40 -A taxi-driver tells us that he has waited at the checkpoint for an hour, [but] another driver claims that he waited for a short time. There are a few people at the carousels.8:45 -H. the checkpoint commander, reports to us, in response to our request, that 12 vehicles are waiting at the checkpoint. He adds that he is trying to allow them to pass through quickly.8:45 -A bus coming from Nablus is inspected in five minutes.9:15 -At the Hawwara DCO: We are waiting for the owner of the quarry at Hawwara whose stones were stolen by the army in broad daylight. 9:20 -The Palestinian arrived.9:30 -We accompanied him to his meeting with the officer of the military police. We made sure to tell the officer that the affair has been reported to Carmela Menasheh who was very angry when she learned about what had happened. In the area in front of the DCO, fifteen people are waiting, and while we were there, some others joined them. From time to time five people are called to enter.10:10 -The Palestinian comes out of the meeting with the officer. He says that it was all right. In his hand he has a document confirming that a complaint was submitted. There are now no people waiting outside the DCO. 10:30 Hawwara – A few people are in a queue for the carousels. There are some more people on their way to Nablus. Two or three vehicles are leaving Nablus.11:00 -A student from Mukabala who is studying at A-Najach appeals to us. As an Israeli he has problems when he leaves Nablus. He went to the police station in K’dumim to find out what he has to do in connection with this. They told him to go to the Central Command, and he cannot get them on the phone. After we failed several times to contact either the Central Command or any other officials who would be able to give us some guidance in this matter, we managed to get hold of S. at public relations and she explained to us what he has to do.11:15 -A young man from Kfar Zeit asks us to help him. His identity card was taken by Azun (because he tried to go around the checkpoint?) and he was told to come to Qalqilya two days later to get the card. When he arrived, the ID card could not be found. He returned the next day. Instead of the ID, he was given a formal validation. He wants to visit his brother who was wounded in a road accident and is in the hospital in Nablus, but he is not allowed to enter the town. We talked to Y. the checkpoint commander, and he explained that the validation is forged. As proof, he shows us that ‘TCO’ is written on it instead of ‘DCO’. We look at the document; the handwriting (in Hebrew) looks like that of a Jew and the name of the soldier and details of his identification are on it. We talked to Y. a second time and asked him to note these things, and he agreed to check the document with the files on the computer. His inspection showed that the document was not forged and the young man was allowed to continue on his way.11:30 – We left the checkpoint.