HUWWARA, Sunday 16 May 2004 PMObservers: Ruti B., Selma M., Yehudit V., Dalya G. (reporting) colour=red>Huwwara South — 14:30There were about 25 detainees in the ditch [a sunken area, parallel with the road and with the lines of the checkpoint, where detainees are held pending a reply on their security status] , including one who was handcuffed and standing up and smiling.The line wasn’t long, but people were impatient and moved over the dividing line. We walked towards the soldiers. The commander waved a truncheon and yelled at the people in line: “Is this what you want?” And with that, he winked at me: “It’s only a threat…” I asked him why it was necessary to threaten: the Palestinians had moved back even before he had brandished his truncheon at them. “They didn’t move far enough.” I tried to hold a conversation with him, in as friendly a manner as possible, under the prevailing circumstances. He replied: “I’m listening, but only because I’m bored. I’m not interested in what you think or say.” I asked him to listen out of politeness, and that seems to have worked. We talked. I asked how long the detainees would be kept in the ditch and he said: “I’ll let them go soon, but not because of you.” I said: “I’m even happier if it’s because of you and not because of me.”Half-an- hour later, when I was standing at the other side of the checkpoint, he shouted: “Now I’m releasing them.”The line was moving along smoothly. The detainees asked us for water. Yehudit went to buy them water, and brought several bottles for them. Apparently the water tank was full of slime and so it had been turned over. The soldiers claimed that the Palestinians had sabotaged the tank. (Dina undertook to deal with it).I called the army’s “humanitarian” hotline about the bound detainee (it was his punishment for “trying to escape”). I asked if handcuffing as a punishment was legal, and was told that it was. (This is worth checking). At the taxi parking area a journalist came over to us: he is Nablus-born but lives now in Ramallah. His journalist’s pass usually gets him through checkpoints. He asked me to hand on the following, which he wrote in my notebook and agreed to write about the checkpoint in his paper. We promised one another, and this is what he wrote (without corrections!): “I think what happens on checkpoints is against humanity, also they don’t respect people. If I have the right to ask: What Israel will achieve through their checkpoints? I think when they let Palestinians go anywhere – peace will be achieved for both sides: Palestinians and Israelies.”Three men arrived – an elderly father, his young son and a doctor. The boy had been detained yesterday at the checkpoint and claimed he had got sunstroke from standing for hours in the sun. He had left because of his headache and his ID card had remained at the checkpoint. The doctor, who came specially, brought a letter from his office about the boy’s physical condition. Earlier he had talked to Sh., from the Centre for the Defence of the Individual, who told them to go to the checkpoint, where they would know about it and return the card. They appealed to me because they weren’t sure about that information. I conveyed the details to the commander and gave him the letter. He had heard the story and asked me to bring them over to him. To our astonishment and confusion, as soon as the boy approached, the commander grabbed his hands in order to handcuff him, but the lad succeeded in escaping, and broke into a frantic run with three soldiers chasing after him with cocked rifles .One of them fired a shot. I shouted: “Don’t shoot!” Then the boy ran into the crowd and disappeared. The commander told to me get out of the checkpoint immediately and ordered the doctor to bring the boy to him. But the doctor had no idea where he was. So the commander took the old father as a hostage and seated him beside him in the sun (however, he did give him some water to drink). I asked what was going to happen and was told that the father would sit there till the boy was found.I contacted Sh., who was astonished and furious. Had she known the boy would be taken for interrogation she wouldn’t have sent him there. She felt that her credibility in the eyes of the Palestinians had been undermined and immediately began to deal with the father’s release. Meanwhile I stood and waited with the doctor and the boy’s younger brother.17:00 — When we left, all the detainees had been released, including the handcuffed man. Only the old father was still sitting there. At 17:30, Sh. informed me that she was in contact with the family and would let me know when he was released. At 18:30 he was released, and his younger son took him home. The older boy won’t be able to get any document [which means that he will effectively be imprisoned in his home village — young Palestinians can scarcely move without the all-important permits to do so.]Anabta checkpointAt the Enav settlement, on the way to Tulkarm, is a checkpoint to which journalists should be taken so that its details become widely publicized: a yellow iron gate which can’t be opened. Permanent. Not a single soldier there. No checks. Its only purpose: to halt, totally, all traffic to all the villages on the road to Tulkarm and of course to the town itself, to Jenin, to the American University, to Anabta, to Tarik etc. Vehicles drive up to the gate, people get out, duck down and walk under the bridge, or around it, always in danger of sliding down, and make their way to vehicles on the other side which will take them to their destinations. This is a checkpoint meant, unashamedly to harass, with no attempt made to disguise its purpose. This is the true face of the checkpoint policy! As we approached, we saw a long line of taxis, trucks and buses. We talked to the drivers, most of them fluent in Hebrew, who had worked for years in Israel and made a good living. Now they receive at most four shekels per journey and can barely feed their families.Feeling hopeless and full of despair, we took our leave of them.