Huwara,Sarra,Beit IbaMonday 29th March 2004 PM Observers:Noya O.,Miri K., Mekky S., Dina M., Anat D., Ina (guest),Ruthie K. (reporting)We drove straight to Huwarra. On the way we say a flying checkpost at the Jitt junction but did not stop. The lines were not overcrowded and moved at a regular, slow pace. There was a detainee, handcuffed and blind-folded, sitting crouched in the sun.When we phoned the IDF Humanitarian Centre about him, we were told “there is a good reason” for this. The rest of the Huwarra report will be continued by Mekky since Dina, Anat and I went on to Sarra and Beit Iba.At the Jitt junction we stopped and managed to speed up the checking of a bus since there were two ambulances waiting behind with emergency cases. We drove up to Sarra, the pot-holes have been repaired as has the road entering the village, but all was desolate.We met one resident who was awaiting merchandise for his sewing workshop, he told me does business with Tel Aviv.As we arrived at Beit Ibba we noticed congestion on either side of the lines for pedestrians and vehicles. The atmosphere was nasty. Near the metal detector passage large crowds and Ofer of the DCO screaming angrily trying to get them all in a straight narrow line. Alongside were 10 “punished” detainees whose identity cards he had taken away because they had not stood correctly in line. When I commented on this , he screamed at me and said I was disturbing him. This behaviour of his was not usual. I did not argue but phoned Carmela Menashe and Dan Goldenblatt [MK Roman Bronfmans’a assistant] who promised to look into the matter.Ofer continued to scream ,but – miracle of miracles- the “punished” ones were released and the line moved swiftly.There were over 20 detainees alongside, including a teacher from Qusin who claims he goes daily to the village, a father with a small child, a lawyer who has an office in Nablus and who had this one time tried to evade the checkpoint and had been caught. Dina dealt with them patiently and efficiently with the help of the very decent and helpful 2nd.Lieutenant N. whose behaviour was in total contrast to the brutal behavour of Ofer. By the time we left all the detainees barring 2 were released.We also had a call from Shai from the IDF Humanitarian Centre to find out whether matters were improving!!!! As we were leaving we felt that this time we had been somewhat successful in alleviating the horrendous situation. But our mood changed rapidly at the sight of a father carrying his what looked like a 5 year old in his arms. In reply to my question he told me the child was 12 years old, had a degenerative illness and was also slightly brain damaged. He (together with wife and 2 daughters) were returning from Nablus for medical treatment, but he was not allowed to take his car, which had been left at the western side. I gave him the phone numbers of Physicians for Human Rights.This epitomizes all the evil of the checkpoints. We returned to Huwwara to pick up the rest of group and got home by 18:00.