Huwwara Burin Junc. Beit Furik Za’atara junc. Wednesday 12.7.06PMObservers: Alisa M., Hagar L. (reporting)Translation: Hanna K.General: In view of the developments at the northern border (this was the first days of fighting at the Lebanese border) we decided to rush to Huwwara, fearing very severe movement restrictions, even curfew. We were happy that at least in this matter we proved wrong. We don’t know if the tightening of the passage restrictions imposed on the inhabitants of Nablus is connected with the war going on at the Lebanese border and the Gaza strip.Passage and Traffic Restrictions:1. Tightening of the movement restrictions for the inhabitants of Nablus and the villages north and west of it (the circle):- Both men and women, aged 16-35, are prevented from leaving Nablus southwards, or eastwards in the direction of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan (the former restriction was for men, aged 18-25 only)All the inhabitants of the territories who are not prevented from moving to and from Nablus on account of their age, require an appropriate authorization to do so2. Private vehicles are allowed to drive into Nablus from the villages Beit Furik and Beit Dajan without authorization and on condition that the driver is an inhabitant of Beit Furik or Beit Dajan. Drivers of other private vehicles need an authorization to pass through. Taxis too require an authorization.3. At the Beit Furik CP there is no passage westwards or southward for inhabitants of the villages situated east of Beit Dajan (i.e. the villages at the Jordan Valley or at the slopes of the hills descending to the Jordan Valley – that’s to say a short distance from the CP).4. Curfew at the village of Huwwara from 19:00 (we were witnesses to the bustle and commotion of the shutting down of the shops, we did not hear the army passing and announcing a curfew, but all the shop-owners told us that they must close quickly as the curfew is beginning).Detailed Timetable14:25 – The iron gates at the entrances to Jamin and Marda, from road no. 5, are open.14:30 Za’atara junction. 6-7 cars coming from the North but there is no queue for cars coming from the West.14:35 – The wholesale market at the village of Beita is open.14:40 Burin Junction. 20 vehicles coming from the North and the West, heading southwards. The drivers hoots, to signal that they are waiting already for a long time and that their patience is running out.14:45 Huwwara CP. On the southern side of the CP there are tens of taxis, busses, private cars. A lively movement of pedestrians. Many students. 150 pedestrians at the CP waiting in the queue. On the farther side of the CP, at a point we are forbidden to approach, 6 detainees are waiting, and brought to the detention shed about an hour later. In the detention shed itself there are two detainees which we see immediately when we arrive: a truck driver and a companion who drove on the apartheid road from the back to back CP at Awarta to Huwwara. We drew the attention of the humanitarian center to the fact that there are no signposts on the spot forbidding Palestinians to drive, and that therefore they have no right to detain drivers who drive on that road. We meet a young man from Sawya who waits for members of his family at the way out from the CP. He tells us that on the road that goes under road no. 5, the army sets up a rolling CP every day between 14:00 to 19:00. On our way back we didn’t see from road no. 5 such a CP. In order to be sure one has to leave road no. 5 from Bidia and to drive in the direction of Sawye, and we were unable to do this at this opportunity.Very strict vehicle checks – all the car passengers (women too) are told to alight for their ID checks, their luggage is passed through an x-ray device, and the vehicle is meticulously checked. There are about 10 cars in the queue leaving Nablus. There is no queue of cars entering Nablus.15:00 – about 200 pedestrians at the CP. The checking in the young men’s queue is conducted with irritating sluggishness by a military policewoman, conducted as in an Italian strike. In the elderly people and women’s queue too the checking is rather slow. We measured 50 minutes per person in the grown-up people’s queue and 60 minutes per person in the young men’s queue.A man who left the grown-up people’s queue leaned on the fence dividing the sidewalk from the road and seemed to be on the verge of fainting. The soldiers immediately make him sit down, bring water and call for an ambulance which stands in the exit queue from Nablus, to take him to the hospital. A few minutes later the man is already on his way to the hospital in Nablus.A car of “doctors without borders” is prevented from entering Nablus. I call the center, although captian A. from the DCO is somewhere around. When he gets a phone call from the DCO he calls the vehicle and lets it pass into Nablus, and it seems that he explains to the soldiers at the car CP what a humanitarian organization is. Later we intervened when a doctor who serves at the hospital in Nablus was prohibited from entering the city as he had not authorization. Again the intervention of the DCO representative was required.15:06 – a fire at the village of Inabus. We receive a phone call from Zacharia and later from the Rabbai Arik Ashermann about a fire in the village of Inabus which is situated under the ridge on which there is one of the strongholds of Yitzhar. There is a suspicion that the settlers of the stronghold set the fire. We leave the CP at 15:30 and mount to Inabus. At the turning from Huwwara we stop a car for a boy and a child who wish to go to Inabus and it turns out that they live in a house which is very near the fire area. We go up to their house with them and are told by the father of the family Mahmud (regards to Miky P.) that the fire was indeed set at the upper region of the hill and spread to the slopes of the hill near the school and eastwards for a length of about one kilometer and a width of about 300 meters, also burning on the way fruit trees. When we arrived the fire was already extinguished by the people of the village, mainly with their hands, as the fire engine from Burin could not mount to that height to the region of the fire. We had not camera but Mahmud promised to take photographs and to send them to us.17:00 – Beit Furik CP. Almost empty. A private car from the Giftalik (in the Jorday Valley) which wishes to enter Nablus is prevented from this and its driver turns back. We try to find out about the passage restrictions and leave.17:25 – Back at the Huwwara CP. Two truck drivers who were detained are already released. Six punishment detainees are still there. They are released at 18:00 only, after the 4 hours which the army allows the CP commander to detain people, are over. As far as we can make out, only one of the 6 was detained in order to check his ID. The others were detained as a punitory measure. There are 60-70 people at the CP. 18:10 we leave the Huwwara CP.At the Burin Junction there are no cars in the queue but there is a rude soldier and a settler who threatens us.18:45 – Zaatara Junction. There are 15 cars coming from the West.