HUWWARAWednesday afternoon, 14 April 2004 Observers: Irit S., Rina H. (a guest from Jerusalem), Deborah L.(reporting) 14:00 — Beit-Iba:As we approached, several taxi drivers stopped us to tell us that there were soldiers stationed at a lookout between Dir Sharef and A-Naqura who were using sexually abusive language towards young Palestinian women.On our way to the lookout to investigate the allegations, we encountered other taxi drivers who were very upset and wanted us to hear the same story. One man reported that he had seen and heard a soldier tell a young woman that he wanted to sleep with her on the spot and to marry her right there. When the man tried to intervene, the soldier told him that if he didn’t shut up, he’d shoot him.At that point, someone ran up to us and said that four soldiers from the lookout had just taken a young woman in a jeep and were heading toward the settlement of Shavei Shomron. Irit called S. (one of our military contacts), who said he had already received complaints and was looking into the matter. Irit also phoned Carmela Menashe, Israel Radio’s military correspondent.We drove quickly to Shavei Shomron to see if we could catch them. At the checkpoint there, the soldiers refused to let us take the road toward the lookout, saying that it was only for the army. We asked if a jeep had gone past recently with four soldiers in it. They said “No!”Later, we heard the following army version of the story from S.: The soldiers thought the young woman (named L., a resident of Baqa) looked suspicious and she had refused to let them search her bag. They arrested her and put her in the jeep to take her to headquarters. At Shavei Shomron an officer checked her bag and decided there was nothing suspicious and let her go. A cousin met her at the checkpoint. Huwwara South: There were only a few people waiting on line, which was moving satisfactorily. There were about 10 detainees who had already been held for between l5 minutes to two hours. All of them were let through after about another half hour. We made a phone call about one man who worked in a pharmacy and had a medical-staff permit and thus should have been allowed through. Subsequently it emerged that the officer on duty had not even done a security check on the man’s ID number as he hadn’t appeared suspicious – the officer’s sole intention was to harass him for being in the “wrong” line! Huwwara North: Here, too, there were about 10 detainees and some 60 people on line. One of the detainees had a referral to the hospital, but the soldiers didn’t believe him. We made some phone calls and later, M., the officer, told us that he recognized the man as someone who always somehow sneaks through but, since he didn’t appear suspect, he let him go. There were two young women who were angry and upset and arguing with the soldiers as we arrived. Their ID cards had been taken away, they had been searched by women soldiers and then told to wait on the side. Our driver, N., talked to them and learned that they were so upset because one of the soldiers had started to “tease” them by behaving as if he were returning their documents and then taking them away, over and over . Irit took M., the officer, aside and explained what the story was, adding that rather then going to those above him she was choosing to discuss the situation with him. Saying that he took as serious a view of the matter as we did, he promised he would take care of it. Later, we saw the offensive soldier checking the incoming cars instead of the pedestrians. At some point S. from the DCO [IDF Civil Administration office, that issues permits] got angry at something and stalked off. Irit then called to complain about the long line and even though R. and E. (from the DCO) were both in a meeting and didn’t want to be disturbed, she managed to get her message across. Sometime later, we noticed A., a new staffer from the DCO, helping to check people going through. He proved very helpful with a woman, an Israeli citizen from Lydda (Lod), whom we had seen at the Huwwara South checkpoint and who was now returning. Her husband lives in Nablus and she had not seen him for a year because she couldn’t get a permit to visit Nablus. After arguing her case for quite some time , she had been let through by a soldier who inisted that she deposit her ID card and promise to be back within a half hour. (She was bringing something to her husband.) Now, on her return, she was afraid she would be late because of the long line and that perhaps the soldier who had let her in would not return her ID card. She called to Irit and Irit took her to A. Not only did he let her pass through more quickly, he also told her he’d try to arrange visiting rights for her to see her husband, and gave her his name and telephone number.Today, we had the feeling that – at least in Huwwara – our phone calls were helpful.