Huwwara and Beit Furik, 13.4.06, AMObservers: Dalia V., Meirav K., Shiri V (a guest photographer), Nurit V-L (reporting)Translation: Ruth F.07:45 -There were about 20 cars from west. At the checkpoint we saw a group of women and their van driver, who were detained. Next to them an officer was standing, two soldiers and a dog. Because of the warnings and according to their orders the soldiers must inspect the cars with the help of a dog while the passengers are supposed to turn their heads to the other side. The upset passengers refused to turn their heads and were detained for that reason. The driver argued with the soldiers which were polite and patient, but couldn’t do anything that would fix the situation. The women said to us that they won’t allow the dog in their car for the inspection, as they often leave dirt and other things in the car, and they also don’t understand why are they expected to turn their heads. We asked the driver to calm down and advised him to stop arguing; we calmed the women down and promised to look while the inspection was being performed so that they could be on their way. They thanked us, but even so started to spread newspapers on the seats before they took off. We talked to the soldiers and told them about the humiliation that these people feel which come on top of the hard experiences that they go through in their everyday life, we also told them that the custom’s and mentality of this population, must be taken in consideration. It was a calm and frank conversation, and they really did listen to us. It was obvious that they weren’t happy with the job they were given. We mustn’t forget that they too are trapped in the centrifuge of the occupation. Meanwhile the road jam from the west has been cleared and we continued on our way to Huwwara.At Izhar crossroad was a road block, but there were no cars in line. 08:15 -Very few people passed through. The closure was felt. People between the ages of 15-30 weren’t allowed to pass from the direction of Nablus, Tul Karem and Jenin, in addition women between the ages of 15-30 couldn’t pass from Tul Karem and Jenin. A. from the DCO was present.08:30 -The line of cars grew longer and the scanning machine was turned on.There was a student from Nablus who needed to get to Ramala for a test, and after some exchange of words between him and A. from the DCO he is allowed to go through.09:10 -We headed to Beit Furik. The road was empty because of the holiday. Things were quiet in the checkpoint. A small number of people and cars passed through. The soldiers said that the checkpoint closes at 19:00. It’s like Miki said, this must be taken care of.We continued to patrol on the road leading to Salem, in order to show the problems in this area to Meirav, a new volunteer and to Shiri, the student photographer who is doing a project about the checkpoints (she takes pictures from every possible angle, and we said that when she finishes the project we might receive some valuable pictures. She has also expressed an interest in joining us when this academic year ends). When we came back some soldiers from the checkpoint stopped us, one of them has identified the car from afar and thought it was suspicious to see a car on that road during the holiday. When he identified us he calmed down.The number of people and cars that were passing was rising. The soldiers guided the people who were entering Nablus to a passage which is defined as new. From this hour till the end of our shift we handled detainees and people who weren’t permitted to pass:A. An elder woman and her son wished to urgently get to the village Orif, because this woman’s brother has died and they had to make it to the family’s house before the funeral. The son of course wasn’t permitted to pass, and they decided to send him back. The woman started to beg. She was an ill woman and couldn’t walk on her own. We stopped this process and claimed that it is a humanitarian case. A’ the checkpoint commander, agreed to let them sit in the shade. We called the DCO but since they didn’t answer us imminently (I have mentioned this in my previous report) I called the advanced command post directly. After a few minutes A’ came back to the checkpoint after being at the DCO and let the woman and her son to get on their way.B. A cab driver that has passed the line in the north side, blocking an ambulance that was detained. A. said that he is authorized to hold him for four hours. We made it clear to him that this is a punishment and asked him not to be too hard on the driver. A. agreed and about an hour later he released him. C. Two women who are accountants were on there way to work and had to get to Rammala urgently. One of them, which lives in Nablus at the moment because of the location of her work, but still hasn’t changed her address in her identity card, wasn’t allowed to pass. We called the DCO for help, even though the job there is done very slowly, as I mentioned. We also passed the information to the advanced command post. Because we were so busy with the son and his mother- these women disappeared. It seems that they have lost their patience, in spite of our efforts, one of them went on and the other, probably, went back to Nablus. On our way home we got a call from the DCO, a long time after we first addressed them, asking us if they should continue working on this incident!!! D. A woman with a Jordanian passport was detained because there was no signature in her passport (how did she get in?). The checkpoint commander told her husband, using the privet phone of one of the women that I have just mentioned, to bring her documents to the checkpoint. A. from the DCO said he could only take care of people with Palestinian identity cards. Before leaving the checkpoint we made him promise us that he would make an effort, so that she wouldn’t stay there alone. She got out an hour and a half later. G. At 11:10 two men from Salem were detained and sent back because of their age, but they tried to by pass and were caught.11:20 – before heading back to Tel-Aviv we asked A. not to keep them there too long.