Huwwara/Beit Furik, 22/09/04, PMNurit L., Leora S., Ria E., Deborah L., and guest (Dalia)SUMMARY: Today was very strange. It was as if we were invisible. The soldiers at Sara, Huwwara and Beit Furik did not speak to us and told us they had received orders not to speak to us. In Huwwara we were told to leave after being there for only 45 minutes. The area from Nablus until the market area where the taxis are at the south side of the checkpoint was declared “a closed military area.” When we have been told this in the past, we knew it was a bluff, but today it was for real. We had been warned about this by the morning shift. What we managed to see in the 45 minutes was the usual problems. The flow of traffic and pedestrians was smooth, detainees between l6 and 30 were kept for too long (even those with medical problems), and taxi drivers were detained for being in the wrong place. There was a large flow of students and other people from Nablus. There were very few people coming into Nablus.DETAILS: 1:40 PM. We passed no surprise checkpoints on our way to Sara. The two soldiers on duty at the Sara checkpoint started walking toward us as soon as they saw our car approaching, but they stopped and turned back when they saw us get out of the car. By the time we caught up with them, we heard them getting a message not to talk to us. And they didn’t. At Sara there was very little traffic. We saw two water carrying vehicles getting water from the army water pipe right near where the soldiers sat. One vehicle said “Palestinian Water Authority”, “donated by Japan.” Does this mean there is a problem getting water in Sara?We left after 20 minutes. We were not able to speak to the few Palestinians who were around since none of us spoke Arabic and they did not speak Hebrew or English.At the intersection where 60 meets 57 (near Huwarra) there were 4 cars being checked going into Nablus and none on line from Nablus. At 2:10 we arrived at the Huwwara checkpoint. We broke up into 2 groups with Leore and Deborah in the south and Nurit, Ria, and Dalia in the north. In both places the passage of people was smooth and there were very few detainees.In the south we were told by the detainees that they had been waiting for an hour or an hour and a half. There was a man who had x-rays and a certificate from a doctor that he should go to the hospital. We tried to have him pass through more quickly by calling the Humanitarian Office but it did not help.We also asked the office if we might be able to help an Israeli Arab women in her 40’s who wants to take care of an elderly aunt in Nablus and was not able to get permission from the DCO. They had no solution so we gave her a card to contact the Office for the Protection of the Individual.In the north we tried to help a detainee who had been in the hospital in Nablus and wanted to return home but the soldiers said the date on the doctor’s certificate had been changed from the 21st to the 22nd. Ria, who saw the certificate, said she did not see the forgery that the soldiers claimed they saw. There was a man who wanted to go to the DCO with a car he had just bought in order to register it but he was not let through. We got both of their phone numbers. There was also a taxi driver who had had the keys of his taxi taken away in the morning . He was waiting for the police. The soldiers said he was not being “detained” he was “arrested”. They said he had gone into an area which he knew to be forbidden. The taxi driver claimed he had simply dropped off his sister near the check-point.Unfortunately, before we had time to get his details and follow his case, we were chased away. We had gotten the DCO representative’s mobile phone number (he was stationed at the north part of the checkpoint). He promised to help with the person coming from the hospital and the man who wanted to register his car. Nurit also called the Moked to see if they would help as well. By the time Nurit got home a few hours later she was told that the man from the hospital had been released and the man with the car he wanted to register said, “things worked out” (whatever that means).2:45 PM. After being kicked out of Huwwara, we headed toward Beit Furik. We passed through the Awarte checkpoint on the way . There were about 20 vehicles in both directions waiting on line. At Beit Furik there were no detainees and very few people standing in line. We had been told by a shepherd returning from Nablus that things were running smoothly now but when he had tried to pass in the morning he had to wait from 3 AM until 8 AM before they let him through. We’ve been told before that Beit Furik is a very difficult checkpoint in the morning. Here too the soldiers didn’t talk to us but they didn’t throw us out. We only stayed a few mintues.3:15 PM. We passed through Huwwara once more. We saw the same detainees as before plus many more, both in the North and South. In the North there were a lot of students being detained but A., the DCO representative mentioned above, said they would not be detained for long. We were warned again not to be there and we headed home.3:30 PM. There were 20 cars heading in the direction of Nablus waiting to be checked at the intersection of 60 and 57. All stores in Huwwara were closed and the streets were deserted. At the Tapuach intersection the line for cars was very short.