HUWWARA, BEIT FURIK, Wednesday 18 August 2004 AMObservers: Orit, Yehudit, Keren, Ruthi, Maanit, Miri, Hanna Blocking and Curfew (Hanna reporting)On the way to Huwwara, along Road 5 , Zeita village was blocked by concrete barriers. Marda was open. Bitta was blocked by a double barrier (!). There was one blockage there , but two weeks ago it was still possible to approach and buy at the large vegetable market in the village. But there was now another blockage closer to the main roadRoad 60 (?) – Sarra – there were now concrete barriers closer to the junction replacing the iron barrier that was there before.08:10 – Curfew at Huwwara village. Several minutes before we arrived, soldiers told the store owners on the main road to close down. Huwwara Checkpoint There was relatively sparse pedestrian traffic. The soldiers were awaiting a visit from the Chief-of-Staff (they said) and a reporter and photographer from Bamahaneh (the army magazine) were on the spot. At both sides of Huwwara and Beit Furik there were what are apparently known as “sergeant major’s workers” – Palestinians being paid wages to clean the checkpoint. At Beit Furik the cleaner was from Huwwara, which is under curfew, but he has a permit because he is employed through the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints, ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians].Huwwara South(Michal reporting)08:15 – There were seven detainees [detainees are, typically, men aged between 16 and 30 who do not have passage permits. Their ID details are relayed by the checkpoint soldiers to the General Security Services (GSS – aka the Shabak or the Shin Bet) which cross-checks them against a central list of security suspects and then relays the results back to the checkpoint; this process is cumbersome and can be further lengthened if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before relaying them to the GSS, or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, before they release the detainees. Meanwhile the detained Palestinians are virtually held prisoner at the checkpoints since the soldiers hold their IDs until GSS clearance comes through] . A woman with a small child, from Huwwara, wanted to go to Rafidiya hospital [in Nablus], but the soldier wouldn’t let her because he said her case wasn’t an emergency.The soldiers looked exhausted. When I asked why there was no passage today from Huwwara to Nablus, a soldier said: “I haven’t the faintest idea.” “Have you asked?” I said. “No, what for?” I think it was the checkpoint commander who arrived and asked us to move away because this was a “sterile area” and we weren’t allowed to stand there. So we moved to the detainees’ area. Meanwhile a pregnant woman arrived in labour, accompanied by her mother. The soldier wouldn’t let her through because she was from Huwwara. When I asked him if he wanted her to give birth at the checkpoint or have a dead baby at home, he called the commander who told him he must let humanitarian cases through. How absurd it is that an 18-year-old boy has to decide on the condition of a woman in labour. In order to qualify in obstetrics one needs more than a few months duty at a checkpoint.A mother and daughter with Israeli ID cards wanted to enter Nablus so that the daughter could enrol at an-Najah university but she was not allowed in. The DCO spokeswoman said that Israeli students studying at an-Najah were infiltrators, i.e. went in without permits. To obtain a permit, the girl needed to send a fax to the DCO saying that she wished to enrol. While we were standing there the commander arrived again and said we could stand in front or behind the detainees’ area. He photographed us and threatened to give the pictures to the police and said we were breaking the law. Michal asked him to check with the DCO whether we were allowed to stand there; 10 minutes later he returned and said it was permitted.10:25 – There were now 12 detaineesSergeant A. told a soldier: “The DCO only recommend. I’m the authority.”Huwwara North(Hanna reporting)Past the junction on the way to the northern side, deep holes had been drilled marked by almost invisible threads. There were no warning signs. At 08:20 there were 16 detainees. By 09:00, none of them had left.A soldier was writing in the one-time permits of people going to Jordan that they had been through the checkpoint, so that they wouldn’t be able to use the same permit at other checkpoints. A family with a mother who was a stroke victim were waiting for the brother to be released. He was released at 09:0010:25 – There were now five detainees here. And how could we have managed without M. from Har Bracha [a settlement in the Occupied Territories close to Nablus]? He paid us his regular visit, but this time his style had changed. He said he was in favour of political arguments but not in the presence of soldiers, invited us to visit him and even apologized for shouting. Beit Furik 09:30 approximately: there was only sparse traffic and the soldiers had little to do. Digging implements lay at the roadside. A soldier explained that they were digging something intended to be an obstacle. But then the Palestinians came along and filled in the hole: and then the Israelis dug it again, and so on and so forth. A man arrived whose permit was taken on Sunday by an officer and not returned. The DCO representative tried to help. The man said the officer had aimed his rifle at him and threatened to shoot if he didn’t go away.11:00 – Jit junction was being inspected by the Israeli police.