Huwwara, Wednesday 16.03.05, PMObservers: Dvorah L., Dalia V., Raya Y., Nurit V. (reporting)Guest: Adit ZertalSummary: Tapuah Junction, regular terrible and humiliating checkpoint, “Blue and White” women.13:15 – On the Zeitah road – 2 jeeps blocking the entrance.We stopped on the road near Zawiyya and delivered packages of clothing and shoes to the man who came out from the village. Another couple were with him, with a 2 year old child, severely handicapped (due to lack of oxygen at birth). The child was receiving treatment at Shnieder Hospital, but the parents were having logistic and economic hardships. The constant travelling to the hospital for follow-up, the physical therapy and neurological checkups, were costing them a fortune, which they don’t have. Among other things, they sold a piece of land that belonged to the family. They have other children besides. We took their details and promised to try and help.13:30 – Tapuah JunctionA long caravan of cars waiting, from the direction of Huwwara. Only 2 soldiers at the station. They have lists. The inspection is slow, but not unusually. I would say that the 16th car in line would reach inspection in about half an hour. The usual frustration.Huwwara South – The checkpoint is closed. Raya and Adit talk with the taxi drivers. The closure of the checkpoint has cut down on their work.14:00 – Huwwara North – No detainees. The soldiers, including military police, are manning 4 inspection stations. The further turnstiles are not functiong, except for one which is permanently open. The whole crowd, pretty large for this hour, is concentrated in the direction of the closer turnstiles. No pressure. The xray machine is operating south of the checkpoint.14:10 – The checkpoint shift changes. The commander from now on – A. 3 girls take over the inspection stations and another soldier directs his weapon straight into the mass of people (we warn him about this later). The atmosphere changes, tension builds up and shouting – “Back”, “one by one”, “We’ll stop the inspection”, particularly one of the female soldiers who is nasty and aggressive. The womens’ line becomes more and more crowded. A teacher is bringing his students from several villages who belong to a dance troupe. They entered Nablus for practice. He makes sure that all of them go through and this takes a long time, as they couldn’t all stand all together in one line. With every child who passes through, he takes a deep breath and calls out “My student!” with trepidation.14:15 – A group of 3 women from the “Blue and White” movement arrive, bringing refreshments for the soldiers. One of them – Rina – has a digital camera and records our every movement, but doesn’t interfere. Adit manages to start a conversation with the 2 others – Sophie from Herzilya and Shuli from Haifa. But this quickly reaches a dead end. One of them, Shuli, is violent, loud and particularly crude. We try to avoid contact, but she sticks to us and doesn’t stop screaming. The “script” is going in the direction of former nightmares, which ended in the Ariel police getting involved and investigating.14:30 – The outside line which is opened for older people and women is stopped for a while; in fact, all the movement at the checkpoint is stopped because of the detention of a female medical student. She entered Nablus 3 weeks before, in order to work in the hospital, and is trying to go out with her student card back to her home in Anata. However, without an additional permission (since they had let her enter). A. called the police. Oleg, from the DCO, can’t help much.14:45 – An older man in the external line tries to get to the inspection station in order to ask something; immediately, the soldiers jump on him as though he is trying to get around the line. He doens’t understand what they want. Of course, they detain him. It turns out that he is a Jordanian citizen,with a foreign passport, not local. He only came for a 3 day visit. He is released in about half an hour, having experienced the terror of the checkpoint. Another group of students arrives, an athletic group, accompanied by their teacher from the village of Awarta. One of the boys, about 15, doesn’t have his birth certificate. He is detained. After some interrogation, the soldiers put him in the insepction cell. From outside, one can see that his pants are down. Afterward, they release him…15:10 – Shuli’s antics reach the boiling point. She is screaming at Dvorah that she is forbidden to speak with the soldiers and that she is interfering with their work. The shouting adds to the tension, her friend the “photgrapher” calls the police. At this point, we decide on the tactic of breaking off contact for a while and go to Beit Furik.15:20 Beit FurikSoldiers at the checkpoint, and a 4th standing by the side, perhaps the commander. Light traffic, no cars waiting, one detainee in the shed, a student from A-Najah. He says that there was pressure on the turnstiles on Shabbat and the soldiers shoved people and even fired live ammunition to scare them. He was a witness to this. The nudniks from “Blue and White” follow us. We avoid contact and leave for Huwwara, since there are no particular problems at the checkpoint. From far off we see a police jeep and hesitate whether to approach, but it is too early to leave.15:45 – It seems that reinforcements have arrived from the Border Police, to help release the pressure at the checkpoint. They weren’t looking for us. In a little while the crowding behind the turnstiles decreases and, by 16:30, people are passing quickly and the checkpoint is almost empty.The medical student is released after questioning by the police and being warned that she has to have a permit. The Jordanian man is also released. Meanwhile, settlers from Bracha raced by in their cars and cursed us: “May your name be wiped out; may you be burnt” etc. Lords of the land.17:00 – End of the shift. We remained a few minutes at Tapuah Junction. A very long line of cars and, again, only 2 soldiers at the station, only one inspecting the cars. We called Ra’ad. He promised to check and send reinforcements.