Huwwara 22 August 2006 Watchers: Aharona M., Ninette B., Nurit V., and Dina Y. (reporting)A morning full of the activity of a hot and gloomy routine.Za’atra (Tapuach) Junction 7:40 a.m. Road No. 5. There are about forty cars waiting in the queue to be checked, there are four soldiers at the checkpoint.From the direction of Nablus there are no cars, the reason appears to be the jam at Borin (Yitzhar) roadblock where about forty cars are in the queue with only four soldiers to check them.Huwwara roadblock7:50 a.m. There are three army vehicles positioned at the roadblock and a lot of soldiers at the various checkpoints. Soldiers with their weapons at the ready guard the soldiers carrying out the inspections.At the exit from Nablus, as far as we could see, there are about ten vehicles in the queue among them five ambulances.Five minutes after we arrived the first ambulance is released, the crossing this morning is quite efficient. There are two checkpoints for vehicles leaving which speeds up the checks.There is a throng of many people into Nablus, a lot of mothers with children.About sixty people wait at the exit. The humanitarian queue is open for women and children. The women tell us that they are in the queue for about a quarter of an hour and the men report a wait of half an hour.A policy of age restriction is in force for those aged between 16 – 30.One of the men leaving stops besides us and with a grin and, in broken Hebrew, jokes: in every nation people want to be young except for the Palestinians, and why? Because here only the elderly can move around freely.8:10 a.m.All the ambulances have crossed.8:20 a.m.We note five cars at the exit from Nablus.At the entrance to Nablus there is continuous traffic of cars and the crossing is fast.There are about twenty people waiting at the exit from Nablus, at the entrance there is a lot of crowding at the turnstiles which continues most of the time until the soldiers decide to start checking all those entering Nablus too, however, contrary to the exit where there is a roof or sheeting which protects them from the sun, here the inspection takes place in the scorching sun.When we ask what has happened the answer is that there is a warning.The soldiers are very polite towards the residents and also to us, they answer our questions with a smile in spite of the fact that when we arrived the commander, A., informs us where we are allowed to stand, far away from the inspections. We, of course, do not obey. He also asks us not to question the soldiers, only him. He also declares that it is very important that we are present.8:40 a.m.A parent with a child suffering from cerebral palsy, whose child can hardly walk, refuses our help. We wanted to stop a vehicle so that it could take them to the taxis; they are on their way to Ramallah.Now there is only one checkpoint open at the vehicle exit.An x-ray machine arrives and is positioned in the area of the vehicle exit.A sick woman, groaning with stomach pains, is transferred from a taxi which is not permitted to enter Nablus to a van with an entrance permit.8:45 a.m.A van carrying sachets of soup arrives at the roadblock and is sent to Awarta. The driver is informed that he can only drive via Awarta village and not on the apartheid road which would enable him to get there in three minutes.At the exit from Nablus only four people are in the queue.A woman waits a quarter of an hour for her husband after she is checked. It should be noted that the inspections, especially of men, are very thorough ‘the usual lifting of shirts, rolling up of trousers and removing belts’. Female soldiers carry out the checks, in spite of all our remarks.8:50 a.m.A vehicle carrying two women but without a permit tries to enter Nablus, the women are transferred into another vehicle which does have an entrance permit.8:55 a.m.The entrance and exit to and from Nablus is stopped, all the soldiers are transferred to check everyone entering the town.9:05 a.m.There are about twenty people at the exit, the traffic starts moving again, inspections are strict both at the entrance and the exit.The force is active all the morning, they do not take breaks, they don’t stand and chat and this means on the one hand that things move well and on the other makes things difficult because the inspections are gruelling.9:45 a.m.We separated, two of us stay at Huwwara and two drive to the Beit Furiq roadblock.Beit Furiq roadblockThere are some twenty people in the queue at the entrance to Nablus with two soldiers checking a queue of women and a queue of men. Because of the heat we asked that the inspections be speeded up, particularly for the women, we were heard and the queue was quickly reduced.There is a handcuffed detainee whose bewildered wife comes over to us to find out what is happening. According to the soldiers the husband is on their list and they await instructions as to what to do with him. Meanwhile they release his hands.The soldiers are cordial and promise to bring water to the detainee every so often and to speed up the procedure.10:10 a.m.We returned to Huwwara.There are about fifty people in the queue at the exit and they cross quite quickly. Women who cross do not wait more than fifteen minutes for husbands to complete their inspection and cross too.Inspections continue for all those entering Nablus as well.A car carrying fire extinguishers to the hospital is not permitted to cross and is sent to Awarta, the driver claims that he will not be allowed to cross in a taxi from there. After discussions with A., the commander, he suggests that they call a vehicle from Nablus to come to Awarta and transfer the goods that way. The absurd thing is that the taxi has an entrance permit from Huwwara, the goods have an entrance permit from Awarta: in short it is unbelievable.10:30 a.m.We left. According to the soldiers the heavy traffic is in the afternoon, when those who left in the morning return to Nablus.On our way back both Borin and Za’atra roadblocks have about forty cars in queues waiting to cross.