Za’atara Junc., Huwwara, Awarta, Beit FurikFriday 2.12.05 AMObservers: Ofra T., Orit D., Nili F. (reporting)Translation: Hanna K.On the way to the Za’atara Junction (Tapuach), on the Samaria-Crossing road, on both sides of road a metal fence is under construction. There are still some unfinished parts, but many kilometer-long parts of the fence are already there, fencing in orchards etc. Some olive trees have remained on the other side of the fence, that’s to say they were separated by the fence from the rest of the grove. Two Hamers lie in ambush.08:40 Zaatara Junc. (Tapuach)-Construction works at the junction continue. A wide square has been built. An oil tanker serving as a (pirate?) service station and the bus which serves as a kiosk are run by a hooligan with the ritual fringes.From the direction of Nablus traffic is sparse and five cars are waiting at the junction to be checked by two soldiers.09:00 Huwwara CP-When we arrive at the taxi-zone at Huwwara south, a Palestinian taxi driver tells us about the day before. According to him his trip from Huwwara to Ariel took hours, during which he passed five checkpoints. He didn’t drive through the Tapuach Junction. There were checkpoints at Marda and at Jamain. In the taxi there were small children “all crying, thirsty, it was a very hot day.I gave them warm water, the soldier didn’t even listen to me. We drove from twelve to five. The Tapuach Junction was closed. People turned around through Aquraba. Nothing, nothing was,I felt pity for the children”.The rocks that were taken by the soldiers from the stone-factory can still be seen at the roadside. At the meeting in Ramat Aviv it was said that the stones had been returned. Are these other/new stones? A lot of garbage has accumulated near the fence.The northern checkpoint is almost empty. At the checking station there is one military policewoman checking papers. While checking the people passing through her hands the girl chats and flirts with two soldiers standing in the passage next to her. There is one queue. The turnstile is not activated by the soldiers, and people are able to pass through it freely. The baggage-check and the physical checking is carried out by two soldiers next to the first turnstile (the more northern one). We watch a soldier who carries out a physical checking on a Palestinian. He orders him to lift his shirt. The hands of the Palestinian are raised, so is his shirt, he turns around according to the soldier’s orders, and the soldier touches his body with his hands. He is not the only one.We try to investigate what happened yesterday, and the soldier answers: “a freezing of life”. Because of the suspicion that a suicide terrorist would pass at Tapuach, the junction was closed down altogether. At the Huwwara Junction they passed, according to him, as usual.A few cars pass. The cars entering Nablus are also checked. The cars entering Nablus are driving on the same road on which pedestrians, who enter Nablus from the south, pass.A phenomenon which we have not encountered before is that of women begging. Between the northern checkpoint and the southern one the begging women sit on the ground. One of them sits by herself, the other with a small boy who rolls around between her legs, crying.09:30 Awarta-We met the dog-training soldier girls. A soldier asks me to leave the place. But he reconciles himself to my refusal, as I insist.There is not much passage of goods. According to the Palestinians Friday is a day of sparse traffic.A Palestinian volunteers to explain to us the procedure of the passage of goods: when the goods are very heavy one transfers the truck to the side where the Israeli truck is parked, very close to the Israelie truck, and the goods are carried. When the goods are not heavy they will be carried by foot by porters. Even those who do not enter Israel with their goods but intend distributing them throughout the Palestinian villages, are checked all the same.09:50 Beit Furik- The checkpoint is empty. Two girl soldiers are at the checking post. The sour faced soldier is not prepared to talk to us, tries to ignore our presence for some time, and then asks us to stand on the side (where do we stand?) because “you disturb my safety. I don’t mind your standing, but not here”. It may indeed be that we disturb his self assurance. When we ask when the checkpoint is closed one girl soldier answer that it is closed at six o’clock, and the other refuses to talk to us.10:10- We leave the checkpoint.At the exit from Huwwara there is now a jeep of the Border Police. The doors are shut and there is no activity.A hamer stands in the middle of the road, a little after the Yitzhar Junction and blocks half of the road. At the Za’atara Junction there are about twelve cars from the direction of Nablus.