Afternoon watch Hawara, Beit
Furik.

A.G, A.C, Sh.H, J.A.

1:30

Hawara South

Even before we approached the checkpoint we saw an ambulance
standing at the checkpoint. Reasonable time? In the eye of the
beholder. When we got out of the car and asked the driver he said
that he had been waiting for an hour and a half with an old patient
who was on his way from the hospital in Ramallah to Shechem
(Nablus).

The information from the soldiers was different and they claimed
that he had not been waiting so long. In order to prove the result
of their diligent search, they showed us the picture of a martyr
that was in the possession of one of the travelers in the
ambulance. That apparently was the excuse for the delay. The best
and the bravest, in the eye of the beholder. Altogether, traffic
flowed reasonably at the checkpoint, where reason is far
off.

We continued to the Hawara North checkpoint. Exemplary order
reigned there. The Palestinians were standing in a ruler-strait
line; this was made possible by the addition of concrete barriers
and a fairly good ground surface. Here also passage of the people
proceeded without superfluous delays. The line of people only grew
and lengthened. Wednesday is the day for lines. Students return
from the universities to their homes in the neighboring villages.
At the request of one of the lecturers and our entreaties another
line was arranged for students and teachers. In parallel, the
number of detainees grew. Apparently somebody thinks that students
are easy prey for detention. They have the right age and learn at
the right institution to become ticking bombs.

Initially all the women underwent a body search at the checkpoint
by a woman soldier but after about half an hour, according to her
after a five-hour watch, she left, with the excuse that she was
unable to save us any longer from the ticking woman; she beseeched
us that if we see any woman who looks suspect, we can search her
ourselves. That was not to be.

By the time we left Hawara checkpoint, there were still tens of
persons waiting, submissively and patiently, to be given the
privilege to go home; there were also some twenty students
detained. Yet beyond the routine and the impossible suffering of
the occupation, there were no unusual incidents.

Beit Furik checkpoint.

Some tens of persons claimed a waiting period of about two hours.
The women pass first, the men wait.

A truck containing drinking water is waiting for 45 min and only
after Arik from the Liaison Office intervenes and our entreaties
she (?) is allowed to pass with her wares. Two infants on the
truck. So another truck passes on her long way and full of delays
to Jenin; this after a waiting time of two hours.

The Palestinians at the checkpoint remain behind waiting. The
procedure is slow, perhaps they are waiting for Godot. It is
getting dark and we are on our way back.

Another subjugated day, the unbearable lightness ….