Za’atra Huwwara Beit furik, Monday 17.7.06 PMObservers; Macky S. Riva B. Daphna P. (reporting)Natanya translating.Za’atara 13:40 two lines of cars along the eastern side of the crossroads. The usual line from north to south (about 40 cars). And in addition to the a new line from south to north with about 30 cars. At the end of each line is an area for checking ids. A senior border policeman who comes to the area explains that they are looking for someone specific and therefore checking in all directions.A truck driver with a permit to travel in Israel says that he left Nablus at 9.30 and waited nearly 3 hours at Hawarra and more than an hour in the line at Za’atara. The soldiers are not prepared to give us information about limitations of movement.13.45 The northern side of the village of Hawarra. A rolling checkpoint for cars traveling to the north.13.47 crossroads of Burin. 24 cars at the southern checkpoint which stretches to the northern part.Huwwarra checkpint. One can feel the tension in the way the soldiers are handling matters. Checking is very slow and very careful even of the people entering Nablus and cars are especially well checked. The soldiers are all impatient, shouting and ignoring any special requests. Men between the ages of 16-35 are not allowed to leave the city.14.00 -People wishing to enter Nablus are congregating in front of the path. A lieutenant (either the platoon commander or a company commander ), rude and irritable and his sergeant who turned out to be the commander of the checkpoint push the crowd wanting to enter Nablus backwards shouting “Yallah, back to Hawarra.” They stand them at a distance of 20 metre fro the entrance to the path and call them to bring their ids for inspection one by one. Everyone is checked regardless of age or sex. The people wait in the blazing sun from 10 minutes to half an hour. Each time when the line is not so organized the soldiers stop the checking and shout impatiently at the people to move back. Many minutes pass when there is no checking at all and this is part of the educational act. Those waiting stand a long time, despairing and frustrated and some are very angry.In the “jorra” sits an Israeli family from Um el Fahm, a man, 4 women and 3 children who were caught leaving Nablus without a permit. They are waiting for the police. They have been waiting for nearly two hours and are impatient. The children are crying and hungry. We ask the commander to hurry the process but each time he just says that we are bothering him. In the end he allows the father to go to the market to bring fruit and drink for the children. We draw his attention to the fact that if the police do not arrive within two hours he has the authority to free them. We also phone the humanitarian centre where they explain to us that they do not deal with Israelis but will see what they can do.14.45 the commander releases the family before the police arrive.Behind the turnstiles coming from Nablus a long line stretches out, people crowded together and losing their patience – but it is less crowded than on other days. The checking is drawn out. The men say that they have waited a long time and complain about the nosy questions which they are asked. One of the young men passes us angrily and bitterly and says “We have a miserable life.” From time to time the soldiers guarding the area of the turnstiles burst into shouts, barking on those standing “Hello hello” and climb onto the rails so as to stand above the people and they point their cocked weapons at them , sometimes shouting rudely for someone to go back.14.30 -loud knocks on a tin from the southern area of the checkpoint and we go to check. It seems that behind the isolation cell which is in the direction of Hawarra is yt another, hidden, which is in the direction of Nablus and inside it a driver, Ali who says he has been there since 11.30. Through the grating which is between the door and the cell he shows us the cuts which the handcuffs have caused him and begs for a cigarette. It is not clear from his words why he was imprisoned even before this present shift arrived. The commander tells us he knows of the man and his details are being checked in the Operations Room but he is not wanted. He also does not know why the man was imprisoned. Ali’s id was not taken from him and so it is not clear if his details were sent in to the Operations Room or whether someone simply decided to educate him by detaining him for a long period. We phone the humanitarian centre who say that they will check. One of the soldiers brings him water but none of them will give him a cigarette and we bring him some which brings a big smile to his face.When we get back to the checkpoint at 16.00 Ali is no longer there and the soldiers say that he was freed.About 20.30 I,phones from the humanitarian center to Riva to tell her that Ali was freed and to explain the reason for his detention….he would not obey the soldiers at the checkpoint.15.00 -A young man from Beit Dejan waits for a permit to enter Nablus with his car. He had received a permit the previous day to leave Nablus with his car to identify the body of a relation from Tiberias at Abu Kabir but now they are not allowing him to return. He was send to the District Commissioner’s Office to get a permit but was sent back to the checkpoint. And there again they told him to go to the DCO. In the end the DCO representative consents to phone the DCO but after checking tells the man that he has to leave his car outside the checkpoint.16.10 -A group of Japanese leave Nablus. One of the soldiers shouts at them “What do you do in Nablus, Why don’t you go to Israel.” Still at the entrance are 50 men crowded together in the heat, waiting in despair to have their ids checked. The commander again orders the checking to be stopped because the line is not orderly and straight enough and because the people do not go back to the imaginary line which he made two hours ago.Beit Furik 15.20 -at the end of the checkpoint are two brothers from Salem who cannot pass so as to get back home. They beg for help. The commander shouts at them “Get out of my sight” and does not allow us to get near to them to find out what the problems is because the area is dangerous and not protected. The radio at the checking post is open and we can hear reports from the north. Both the commander and the sergeant are rude and excited. “My family is in the shelters” shouts the sergreant in anger to the Palestinians who are waiting silently behind the turnstiles or “Stop causing confusion or I will send you back to Nablus.”Riva speaks to the humanitarian centre to try to find out what are the limitations of passage to people from Salem and the centre asks for their details. While she is reading the details from their ids the commander falls upon her and shouts “Why are you interfering in affairs which are not your business. I wish a bomb would fall on you and you would die.” We were also called “prostitutes” and “ trouble-makers”. We did not react. When we left the checkpoint we took the number of one of the brothers and about half an hour later we heard that they had been allowed to go on their way home.Burin checkpoint 16.20 – taxis waiting in a southerly direction.Za’atara 16.30 – No line for cars from the north and from the south about 10. 14 detainees.