Hawwara and Beth Furik, Monday 8.8.05 AMObservers: Yael L. and Orly P. (reporting)07.15 Tapuach Junction: the traffic flows but five cars wait to be checked.07.30 Hawwara: A very thin trickle of people coming from Nablus. The soldiers are in fact “unemployed”, and use their leisure by having amusing themselves at the turnstiles. From time to time they are disturbed by the Palestinians who are also forced to use this military fun instrument.The traffic of cars and buses coming from Nablus is held up for a long time, sometimes for over an hour. Each vehicle undergoes a very thorough checking. All the passengers are ordered out of the vehicles, each and every piece of baggage is opened, the dogs are sniffing everything possible. Entire busses are emptied from all their passengers for the sake of the lengthy checking, and the queue gets longer and longer. According to the commander of the checkpoint, A., there are not enough soldiers to handle the job. To our question whether today there are fewer soldiers then on other days, he replies in the negative, and now explains the delay by the absence of the x-ray device . According to him he has already asked twice for the x-ray device to be returned to Hawwara.Even the drinks vendor becomes a suspect, and the dog trainer sniffs in his pots and pans. Who knows what kind of poison he has hid there today?09.00: A resident of Ramallah who has arrived from Nablus is being detained, and we are forbidden to talk to him. He has been detained following “an order from high up”. The commander of the checkpoint asks him: “what is there in Nablus? Why have you been to Nablus?” After all when you are living in Ramallah you must remain there forever, all the time, in all eternity. What reason can a person have to leave the town of his residence? And without permission on top of that? An hour later he is released.09.30: At Beth Furik: The traffic is very sparse. The driver of the truck which transports sheep is being detained on the side of the checkpoint, after he has been caught driving on the Apartheid road. The commander promises to release him soon, after being punished for a few hours.10.30 Tapuach Junction: The traffic flows. A representative of the Liaison Administration explains that everybody is allowed to pass. But then he remembers and adds: “except those who live in Qilqiliya, Jenin and Tul Karem. A minor detail indeed.