HUWWARA — BEIT IBA, Thursday 22 April 2004 PMObservers: Dalia G., Olga Z., Vera R., Nili P., Shelly N. (reporting from Huwwara), Nili M. (reporting from Beit Iba) color =red>Huwwara 15:25At the southern end of the checkpoint there were some 10 people waiting in line. Fourteen detainees stood on one side; some had been waiting more than three hours for their papers to be checked, others two hours. The soldier who was transmitting the ID card numbers for checking (just as we arrived) said that the telephone had been engaged before. Within half an hour there were another 10 detainees. Among the “veteran” detainees was a young man with suspected appendicitis who wanted to reach hospital — but he had no doctor’s referral. We told him it would be difficult to help, and instead we tried to expedite the checks through the army’s “humanitarian” centre. Among the more recently held detainees was one suffering from kidney stones. Ibrahim from the organization Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) also tried to speed up the checking process.One of the detainees told us that the day before yesterday at 19:00 soldiers at the checkpoint had taken money from people (between NIS500 and NIS1200 ). We’ll try to check. Some of the detainees were released at 16:20 approximately, and some others shortly before 17:00.16:05 — On the northern side of the checkpoint there were some 60 people waiting in line and about 20 detainees on the side. Among the detainees was a man from Hebron who was worried lest he miss his last ride back home. Another man was recovering from spinal disk surgery. Yet a third had a merchant’s permit which should have allowed him to move around even under conditions of “encirclement” (and the soldiers wonder why people aren’t keen to go to all the trouble of getting permits!) Another wanted to get to the army’s District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the Israel army section that handles civilian matters], to renew the permit for his car, but after he was detained he decided to give up and go home, except that now it was too late, the soldiers wouldn’t let him go until his documents had been checked; and then there was another detainee who had just been released from hospital. At 17.00 we succeeded in persuading the soldiers to check again whether there were any answers, but there weren’t any. Meanwhile the line had almost disappeared, but the number of detainees had grown to 35. We talked again to the army “humanitarian” center and to Ibrahim from PHR.17:50 – some of the detainees were released.We had ended our watch but 22 detainees were still awaiting answers, including the young man from Hebron and one of the sick men.Beit Iba14:10 — There were detainees at checkpoint 15, including a young man, accompanied by his father, who was going to hospital to receive psychiatric drugs (they had already been detained for two hours). A young man who had a permit to work in Israel had been detained for three hours, but was released 20 minutes after we arrived). There were also several other familiar faces whom we see among the detained every week. We contacted the army about the father and son, talked to an officer and to Ibrahim from PHR and soon after 15:00 they were allowed through.At the crossing from Nablus, a medical student from Qalqiliya, who had been on duty in Nablus, was not allowed to go home (his wife was allowed through). The soldier said that he would have to return to Nablus: “he’ll have to suffer a little”. Our intervention didn’t help and he and his wife eventually went back to Nablus (preferring that to having his ID card checked, an option which was suggested to them).At the other end of the checkpoint, a student studying and living in Jenin wanted to cross to his family in Nablus but was not permitted to do so because “it’s not a day for student crossings” [those studying in Nablus may leave the town on Wednesdays, at the close of the teaching week, and return to it on Saturdays, the start of the teaching week] We talked to S., the DCO representative, who’d arrived meanwhile, and he told us that the soldiers wouldn’t allow the student through because he’d been cheeky to them, so there was to nothing he (S.) could do. In the end the student returned to Jenin after his father (who tried in vain to get S. to help) gave him some money.By now, the number of detainees was up to 40. They included some who are regularly detained at this checkpoint and always for long periods . There were also some who had refused requests [by the Israeli authorities] to become collaborators , and since then, they say, their lives have become more difficult whenever they go through the checkpoints. One of them, a 16-year-old, had his hands tied behind his back and his eyes blindfolded as he was bundled into a jeep which then drove off (with an officer named A.). At 16:45, two detainees were released. At 17:00, another two were released, and at 17:30, another 17. Nineteen remained.At the Nablus exit side a soldier called the next three in line to come over to him. Suddenly A. appeared and yelled at them: “Who called you?” and the soldier who had indeed called them echoed him , yelling: “Yes, who called you?”The soldier doing the checking wouldn’t allow a young man and a child to pass through. When Nili went and stood next to him, the soldier said “OK, today I’ll allow it, but you won’t go through again.”By 17:40 there were 13 new detainees. At 18:05, three were released. At 18:30, several more. Those who remained were not permitted to sit down by the wall but were bunched together beside the checkpoint. When we left, about 20 detainees remained, including a student about whom we contacted the army. The reply was that the checkpoint was already closed, but in the end, at 19:00, they did let him through.A., who made a bad impression on us on previous occasions, was the checkpoint commander. Most of the time he didn’t personally check documents but supervised the soldiers. He conducts his limited communication with Palestinians by yelling, rudeness and anger. This has a bad effect on the atmosphere at the checkpoint.