Beit Furik – Huwwara and Tapuach Junction Roadblocks. 12 March 2005 Watchers: Amalia V., Naomi R., Victoria B., reporting: Vivi Ts. Tapuach Junction 8:00 a.m. there is a long queue of cars, about thirty, from the north and a similar queue from the west.The passengers on the busses and the vans are taken off and checked one by one and the crossing is very slow. The regulations in the southern direction are the same as those at the Nablus roadblocks, i.e.: youngsters aged 14 – 20 are not allowed to cross. 11:00 a.m.In the direction of Jerusalem a long queue of cars northbound and a few cars in the westbound.Beit Furik – After we had become accustomed to seeing this roadblock with few people crossing quickly, today there were dozens waiting obediently and quietly in separate queues of men and women and a humanitarian queue, the crossing is very slow since each document is very closely checked. The soldiers found time after quite some time to check the few trucks waiting to enter Nablus. Few trucks cross this roadblock and they are usually with commercial permits for retail and for moving “humanitarian” goods, most of the drivers are regulars and known to the teams, but today they are checked while a soldier supervises pointing a weapon. The roadblock officer Motti came over to us immediately and asked us not to enter the roadblock and not to try and talk to those held up. He said that it is his roadblock and his territory and we are hindering his work. Two of those held up, young men, were handcuffed, one with his hands behind his back. We were obliged to get information about them from the Palestinians standing in the queue. It became evident that there was no reason for the hold up and certainly not for the use of hand cuffing apart from them being Palestinians wanting to cross over the roadblock. In addition one of them was the subject of a mistake while checking his identity card number, we understood that the handcuffs in addition to the hold up were a local initiative of the same officer Motti who was taking his job to distorted proportions. Both men were released and crossed in the direction of Nablus before we left.In conversation with the taxi drivers it became evident that this unit of soldiers is tough and the long queues were created due to their method of work. It was reported to us that in the village Beit Furik things are a little quieter, The army patrols each night but does not get people out of their beds.The terrifying canal that divides the villages Salem and Azmot from their fields across the road seems to have deepened and on rainy days it is possible to drown in it. The access for both the villages to Nablus is via a straight road without a roadblock but their access to their fields across the road in the easterly direction is via a roadblock.Huwwara Roadblock – the southern roadblock is not active and vehicles are checked at the entrance to the northern roadblock. At the northern roadblock both of the turnstiles are active including locking by a remote control in the hands of the soldiers although at this time of morning not many people are leaving. The age restriction is 14 – 20 for males and two youngsters are held up for a short time and returned to Nablus.From the direction of the exit from Nablus there is a queue of about 12 cars that are waiting a long time because the soldiers are in no hurry to carry out the checks.