HUWWARA SOUTH and NORTH, BEIT FURIK, Saturday 6 November 2004 AMObservers: Hanna B., Victoria B., Hava H. (reporting from Huwwara South) Naomi R., Hanna B. (part-time), Nina M (reporting from Huwwara North and Beit Furik) 07:20—The Hizma checkpoint, the first after leaving Jerusalem on this road, was abandoned and quite empty. At the Tapuah junction, two bored soldiers lounged in the shade of the concrete blocks and the camouflage netting while a long line of 24 cars waited to be checked. Huwwara South Hundreds of people were densely packed together in the three tracks of the checkpoint – one for over-50s, one for “ordinary” folk, and one for women. There were two more lines – one for vehicles and an improved one outside the concrete block boundary – for women. This latter one was dispersed first perhaps because of our presence and perhaps thanks to a humane and attentive checkpoint commander. A soldier asked me if we wrote “bad things” about them; “No,” I said, explaining that we were happy to write good things whenever possible, and gave him our card.The soldier in charge of the over-50 line recruited an older man to help him and tell people where to stand; then he asked me to explain it to them. I told him I was not a soldier and refused. Despite the crowding there were only three detainees, who were all treated courteously [detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. The detainees’ ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. .The soldier with whom I’d argued continued to “educate” and organize the Palestinians, although it was impossible for them to move at his command because of the crowding. Then, suddenly, someone decided that the over-40s could now go through.The soldier, who claimed to be tough, was actually responsive and used his discretion, particularly where children were involved. It transpired that since last week, after the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, there was a new procedure – children could only go through with a parent. However, while we were there all the children went through. There were never more than five detainees.An ambulance arrived with a woman in labour. The soldier made a crude joke about giving birth to babies or Kalashnikovs, but then let her through rapidly.Things were more complicated in the women’s line and it was difficult to keep order in the face of the silent and stubborn mass of women. Hanna took control by the turnstile and introduced order.11:10 – Three members of Tel Aviv Machsomwatch came through on their way to Beit Iba.11:30 – We left.BEIT FURIK, HUWWARA NORTH 08:30-08:50 – Beit Furik The checkpoint was being managed in very orderly fashion and the soldiers were behaving correctly. Men of 16-30 without special permits were not allowed through.We enquired about Hirbet Tana – agricultural land belonging to Beit Furik which has been confiscated. People in the line told us that it was now a closed military area. When shepherds entered the area with their flocks the army would throw them out and close the access roads. 09:10-11:30 – Huwwara North The soldiers were uptight and suspicious, and the atmosphere was tense. People with valid permits were being sent off to the detainees’ pen. The volunteer working with the soldiers was very hostile. There were 15 detainees all the time and checking was very slow. Some of the detainees had been waiting since 07:50.The main incident was the inexplicable harassment of passengers in an ambulance. At 09:10 an ambulance was “asked” to park on one side. Inside was a woman cardiac patient accompanied by a doctor and a nurse on her way from hospital in Nablus to hospital in Ramallah. Checking took an hour-and-a-half. First, the ID cards of those in the ambulance were sent for checking, then the staff sergeant commanding the checkpoint ordered that all the equipment be removed from the ambulance. The nurse spread a sheet on the ground and took out everything including sterile gloves, oxygen masks etc. This took 20 minutes. Then the patient was asked to undergo a physical examination behind a curtain by a woman soldier. The equipment was replaced and the driver was told to open the engine cover . And after all that, they were not allowed through.The soldiers were very aggressive towards drivers in the line going south and other ambulances were ignored, although they were allowed through after some while. But the harassment was specifically directed at the one particular ambulance. Another ambulance which arrived in a hurry on its way to a road accident was allowed to pass.We contacted the army’s “humanitarian” hotline and reported in real time, then we called Centre for the Defence of the Individual (the Moked) , the c/o of this particular group of soldiers, Dalia Bassa (the coordinator of medical services in the Occupied Territories) and the local army operations room. In the end, a major arrived from 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] . When we asked him what the problem was, he said he couldn’t reveal it to us; we also certainly didn’t get the impression that he was doing anything to speed up release of the detainees.