Huwwara Beit Furik Za’atara junc. Awarta, Monday 29.1.07 PMObservers: Rahel A, Mirav A (reporting)Translation: Ruth F.13:45- The blockage on Barukin roadEven though the blockage was open people kept parking their vehicles in front of the blockage and took a cab or a cab with yellow plates. We met a group of men that told us that those people preferred leaving their car near the blockage because at night the army closes the gate that blocks the road and they don’t want to get stuck with their car outside of the village. They also said that since the blue police likes to focus on Palestinian drivers, many Palestinians prefer to not use their privet cars at all. 14:00- The road entering Marda village (on the road between Ariel and Za’atara from the right)An armed car was blocking the entrance to the village. They wouldn’t let anyone enter or exit. We were told that some stones were thrown and then the army was operating in the village, and that’s why it was closed. All the vehicles that wanted to enter were sent away. An Israeli vehicle arrived at the blockage, it was transferring equipment to a factory that is placed 300 meters from the blockage. The factory owner tried convincing the soldiers to let them transfer the equipment, but the soldiers refused and didn’t let him pass or stand there. An elder woman got off a cab. She was a resident that just got back from the doctor, she wanted to get home. The soldiers wouldn’t let her pass and tried to send her away but she wouldn’t leave, she had nowhere to go. The soldiers told us that we were in their way and that the woman kept of insisting because of us. We called the humanitarian center and left the place, but we kept in touch with the factory owner.Afterward he told us that around 15:00 the force that was there had left the village, the soldiers closed the iron gate that was at the entrance to the village and stood there, not allowing people to pass. After we made some calls to the humanitarian center the soldiers started to inspect the people waiting there and to let the pedestrians pass, but they wouldn’t let cars enter and exit. The factory owner told us that there was a traffic jam from all the cars that wanted to get out of the village. At 16:00 the soldier started to let cars pass as well. 14:10 Za’atara checkpointThe checkpoint was almost empty on both sides. One car from the west, was being inspected and five cars were waiting from the north. The checkpoint commander told us that because of the terrorist attack that morning (at Eilat), since 13:00 they have been doing full inspections. Other then that there were no restrictions.14:30 -Both of the rolling checkpoints at Izhar junction were abandoned. 14:35 Huwwara checkpointJust before we showed up, two children were caught with what the soldiers call “an improvised gun”. It seems that these kids came there to get caught; they know that at prison they can study and that in the mean while their families will receive fanatical aid from the Palestinian authorities and other organizations. The blue police was sent for to take care of those kids. They were in the isolation cell, guarded by the soldiers so we couldn’t make any contact with them. As far as we could tell they seemed to be very young, the police man that interrogated them told us that they claimed to be 14, but he also thought they looked much younger. They didn’t have any documents or IDs on them. After about an hour and a half an investigator from the police arrived there, and he interrogated the kids. B. was the checkpoint commander and he didn’t want to talk to us. The DCL representative wasn’t there. They run the checkpoint very carelessly, the soldiers yelled at each other, the argued about who should stand where and when they were supposed to swap. There were many pedestrians, three inspection posts and a line for women, elder and sick people that opened and closed every 10-20 minutes. Women and elder men had to wait for almost two hours in the freezing cold for the younger men. Although the manometers were working the soldiers told most of the young men “to dance”- show their stomach and their socks. The inspection was very strict probably because of the terrorist attack that morning. 15:30 –Beit Furik checkpointCab drivers told us that the iron gate was locked at night. They said that in order to get out of the village at night in emergencies, they had to get by car to the gate, walk from the car to the checkpoint so they could call the soldiers. Then the soldiers call the patrol jeep from one of the settlements in the area, to come and open the gate. This might take between half an hour to an hour. There weren’t many pedestrians at the checkpoint. The soldiers reported that there were no particular restrictions. At the vehicle lane there were about 7 cars heading out of Nablus. The inspection rate was of five minutes for one car.15:50- Awarta checkpointThe checkpoint was nearly completely empty, there were no porters, and no was using the “back to back” system to transfer merchandise. One truck was inspected at the entrance, no trucks were heading out. 16:00 – Huwwara checkpointThe kids that got caught before were already taken to the police. There was one detainee, they let sit near the inspection posts so we couldn’t get to him or talk to him. The DCL representative wasn’t there yet. Eventually the checkpoint commander was willing to tell us that he was waiting for a conformation from his unit to let the detainee go. 17:15- Za’atara checkpoint was empty from both sides.