Hawwara, Beit Furik, Saturday 17.9.2005 AMWatchers: Varda G. Gina M. Naomi R. Chava H. (reporting).Natanya translating.The weighing of cheek.The entire way the squills were blooming. When we arrived at the checkpoint the commander told us that when we are present the Palestinians are cheeky. More of this lately.At Hawarra opposite what was once the southern checkpoint is a plant for cutting stone which one does not usually notice. But this time when we arrived the owner approached us in his work clothes and boots and told us that armed soldiers had come in a jeep and also a bulldozer driven by a soldier, also armed and had become to take blocks of stone which he had paid for and which had been intended for building to the side of the roadf. He complained and explained that the price of these stones was 20,000 shekel but they completely disregarded him and the stones were put in the road to stop cars going through. The man did not seem surprised at this theft but told us that several families made their living from this plant. What to do now?We took the details and photographed the place. The commander said that he knew nothing of the affair and Y. of the DCo asked K. a higher authority and K. gave the ultimate and lying answer….”it was not the army” But Nagi, the owner, said that they were dressed in army uniform, armed with army guns and spoke in the voice of the army….So if they were not the army who were they?The history of the story is that the armed soldiers in broad daylight took 10-15 tons of stone for the use of the army and the occupation and even put the results of this theft directly in front of the eyes of the owner because the army is above all. Our friends from Tel Aviv told us that they saw this for the first time on Thursday. On the way to Beit Furik we started to telephone and for the most part the calls were not answered. But evidently repeated calls to the DCO and to the brigade somehow woke the sleeping system from their conviction that their thieving would pass in quiet and without notice. At Beit Furik all cars entering Nablus were inspected carefully. Why is it that at Hawarra cars enter Nablus with no problem? The commander told us that the army tried all sorts of methods and asked us politely to stand “there” about 20 metre from the inspection point so as not to interfere with his work and also because the Palestinians act differently when we are around. We asked him to explain. The soldier confused retreated to the usual expressions of the army spokesman but eventually told us that “they become cheeky” and gave us examples.At this point I thought what is the balance of cheek. 15 tons of stone stolen for the purposes of the army as against the “cheek” of a man who also is a human being and has rights as such and dares to show his opposition to the occupation and to the negation of his human rights. The call to the DCO now brought us to the new situation of “covering your ass”. Now it is no longer “It is not the army” but “It is the brigade.” And also attempts to explain the theft. We then turned to the speaker of the brigade and we threatened that if the stones were not returned today we would approach Carmela Menashe and also the newpapers and that is exactly what happened. We spoke to her and she promised to deal with the matter the same day. The shift tomorrow will go with the owner to lodge a complaint and we will also lodge one with the army. The squills were still blooming as we drove home.