Huwwarra, Thursday 16.2.2006 PMObservers: Dorit H. Daniel (visitor) Lirit L. (reporting)Natanya translating.14.45 Crossroad at Tapuach. From the direction of Ariel are 16 cars (taxis) and from the other side 21 cars.3 minutes of checking to each car.At the crossroads of Yizhar a rolling checkpoint.The village of Hawarra.At the turning to road 60 a hammer blocks the road and checks cars randomly. Dorit stops the car and asks the soldier if he knows that those same cars have just been checked at the Hawarra checkpoint after waiting a long time. He says “Those are the orders.”At Hawarra we found that the horrible unit has been replaced and there is a more sympathetic unit in charge but who are inexperienced. This causes chaos in spite of (or maybe because of) the high officers present there).The women’s line is closed and they are crushed in amongst the men. Every few minutes we ask for a humanitarian line to be opened. But it takes a long time before this is done. The women have been standing for a long time in the cold without water or the possibility of going to the non-existent toilet and they are very stressed. A pregnant woman who is no longer able to contain herself goes behind the shed to urinate. Children in the line are crying. One little girl in the line crushed between her father and the men. Is in tears and the men lift her above their heads. A soldier takes her and puts her on the cement barrier. She is frightened by the soldier in uniform and he in turn is pressured by the crying child and does not know what to do with her. And so she is trapped in his arms and both of them do not know what to do until the father with all his parcels manages to cross the narrow carousel and takes her from him. An old woman who can hardly carry herself is pressed in the line with her many bags. Daniel and I help her to carry them. On the other side of the checkpoint (the old southern checkpoint0 she thanks us with movements of her hands thanks us crying. She asks us to give her her plastic bag, sits on the grounds and shows us that we should go. I look backwards and see that some young men are helping her to get up and taking her with them it seems to the taxis.As the soldiers do not know the rules of the place each time another old person or sick enters the humanitarian lane they see this as a defiance and because no one in the entire checkpoint knows Arabic and in the lines not many know Hebrew the soldier closes the line in anger. We explain this to Eran, the military police commander and he tries to explain this to the soldier. But the moment another soldier takes his place the same thing happens. He closes the line for half an hour and again the pressure increases tremendously. We press the commander to open the lane again and he asks over the communication for more soldiers so as to do so. This is obviously on the basis of orders but is absurd when one sees the large numbers of soldiers standing around doing nothing.A soldier arrived. Instructions are given. A bit of “What gives brother?” and the line opens. Once again we see old people being sent to the other line and only after words, requests and explanations does this change.In the meantime old people are told to raise their shirts and are checked as carefully as never before and this includes those who are limping or hardly alive. Daniel and I saw an old man older than my father who was checked three times without being able to see the reason why. Once again he lifts his shirt and his hands and the woman soldier checks his belongings again and again. Men wait longer than their wives. A young father is very worried. His wife and two year old son are in the line two hours already and he cannot see them. I tell the soldier. He says “You know what they are like, A baby can also be a five year old.”An older man waiting for his wife shouts at us….”What are you looking at? Why don’t you do something?” Dorit goes up to him and they speak for a long time. She explains to him what we do and asks him if he can think of any else that we can do. If he does we will do it. He ends their conversation with words of gratitude. Dorit says that as angry as he now with us he will be even more angry on his road which is filled with checkpoints…we know how many there are. He does not.An old man leaning on a cane who has seen us for 40 years with rifles and in uniform continues on his way while a soldiers calls him and threatens him but he goes on his way on the road not standing in line …what more can be done to him anyway? The soldier shouts. His friends calm him. “Leave him alone. Look how old he is” and he does so.A soldier checking ids points his rifle directly at a small boy. He is supposed to be guarding the line but in reality is only aiming at the boy. Dorit can not bear this. She runs and stands between him and the child , speaks to him quietly and asks him why? Is this what he wants a small child to keep graven on his memory? An Israeli soldier aiming at him with a rifle to his face. He smiles at her but does not answer. Just moves to the side to keep aiming at the child. And so they both move. Both to the right and left and the soldier does not answer, just smiles. Maybe he is embarrassed….maybe he just does not want down to climb down from his high horse.A young man has been detained for about an hour and we do not know why. He prays in the jorra and waits. Every few minutes we ask what is happening and eventually A., the DCO representative arrived and promises us personally and we go to Beit Furik. He is disappointed. “You go home and I stay here.” 17.20 Beit Furik and the checkpoint are closed to those entering and will be open untill 20:00 to those going to Nablus.17.30 -A rolling checkpoint at Yizhar with 24 despairing cars in line.Crossroads of Tapuach 16 cars from Ariel and 8 in the other direction.