Za’atra Roadblock, Huwwara 19 May 2006 Watchers: Orit D., Ofra T., Nili P. (reporting)8:50 a.m.A Hammer jeep is parked opposite Ariel.Za’atra Roadblock (Tapuach)9:00 a.m. There is no queue of cars. The few cars arriving cross the roadblock quickly.9:10 a.m.The temporary roadblock, close to Yitzhar Junction, has become permanent with concrete blocks and a modular wall which is also of concrete. A Hammer jeep arrives and three of the soldiers in it (patrol soldiers) join the four soldiers staffing the roadblock.Two soldiers check the cars crossing the roadblock, one soldier guards them from behind and an additional soldier guards them from the olive grove close by, he is remarkably camouflaged and looks like a part of an olive tree.The soldiers are paratroopers (“Viper” – hooray for the IDF nicknames)There is a queue of about ten cars.According to the soldiers, who willingly talked to us, the roadblock is open until 11:00 p.m.The check is intended for those leaving from Jenin (in reality, those who queued at Huwwara queue here too). The orders are not to permit those aged between 15 and 30 to cross without a DCO permit. They add that apparently there is a complete standstill of life in Huwwara because this morning a molotov cocktail and an explosive charge was found among the tools belonging to a Palestinian who crossed at the roadblock.9:25 a.m.There are no cars at the roadblock. The soldiers from the patrol return to their Hammer jeep and leave.Huwwara9:30 a.m.In the taxi car park at Huwwara south we meet a Palestinian, a taxi driver, whose situation we have reported in the past, and here we are doing it again:A.T. (I have his cell phone number), a Palestinian family man lives on the outskirts of Huwwara, 500 metres from the roadblock, opposite the animal feed factory. The army blocked the road to his home so that Palestinian cars should not be able to pass from there. This means that passage to his home is blocked. The army informed him (Captain G.) after consultation, that the road will be opened, however, not only has the road not been opened there has been additional digging which makes the pedestrian passage even more difficult for the family which includes children and the elderly.If he was promised that the road would be opened why, he wonders, has it not been done.Can we be of any help?9:40 a.m.As we crossed the deserted southern roadblock a Palestinian tells us of a Palestinian doctor who drove on the road from the direction of Beit Furiq and was arrested by soldiers opposite the roadblock on the pretext that he is not permitted to drive on that road. He was released later. Of course there are no signs indicating that Palestinians are not allowed on the road from Itamar.When we ask how they are supposed to know without signs the answer is always: “They know”.There are four beggars on the crossing between the southern and northern roadblocks. One of them has two small children with her. The little girl begs and the boy wanders around the area (aged about three).9:45 a.m.Huwwara roadblock north is open. Life has not been brought to a standstill. A Palestinian has indeed been arrested, in his plastic shopping bag they found: a knife, a bottle with a rag and explosives.According to the soldiers at the roadblock the following is the dialogue between one soldier to the other as he is reporting on his wireless:How big was the knife?… Was it a butcher’s knife or not?… A penknife? Kitchen knife? What? Not a kitchen knife.In the end they put us in the picture: the knife was about 20cm long, in addition molotov cocktails and an explosive charge were found. The bag with its contents was taken to an open space and awaits inspection by sappers. Police are investigating the soldiers, so an additional inspection lane has not been opened; the Palestinian has been arrested and is to be taken into custody.A police patrol car with two policemen is parked on the side.We have no access to the cell in which the Palestinian is held (there is a poster on the back of the cell saying ‘check women’).About 20 Palestinians wait in the queue to be checked.A Palestinian is taken out of the queue and told to return to Nablus. According to his document he lives in Nablus and, because he is of the wrong age, he has to return. The Palestinian asserts that he lives in Salfit and the soldier answers him: “Two months ago you took out a document stating that you live in Nablus, stop driving me mad”.9:55 a.m.There are about thirty Palestinians waiting in the queue. One of them requests that another lane be opened and is answered by a soldier that soon another lane will be opened and indeed within five minutes an additional checkpoint opened.10:05 a.m.The improved sappers’ vehicle arrives: two Israeli flags are flying, aerials, lights, shutters, etc.The sappers are directed to the open field by a charming girl soldier wearing a full paratrooper outfit: flak jacket, red boots, tin helmet adorned with a black ribbon, a confident stance and a cigarette between her fingers.10:15 a.m.A robot is taken from the vehicle and sent off by remote control while it is watched through binoculars.A young Palestinian, his mother carrying a tiny baby in her arms together with the young mother who is feeling ill, leave the roadblock in a taxi brought by the father from the south, after they have been through the roadblock checks. We ask the officer at the roadblock to ensure that they are not held up again at the next roadblock and he indeed does so.10:40 a.m.A Palestinian from Til village is detained because he has no ID card. He has a document showing that he has applied for a new ID card to replace the one he has lost. The soldier instructs him to wait in the detainees’ shed and “if you want water, tell me”. The soldier, however, does not wait and puts a bottle with some water on the side of the concrete block.When I ask why the detainee has to stand while he waits (there is a bench outside the shed but not inside) the soldier answers that the bench was taken out because of a woman who needed to sit down.The bench is taken back inside the shed.The soldier checking the detainee’s details says that according to the details he has, the man is wanted.The detainee smiles and says understandingly that it’s the soldier’s job. He has been detained twice before and released.The detainee’s friend who is waiting for him presents his story (I have his name and telephone numbers). According to him he worked as a decorator in a Tel Aviv neighbourhood. He was employed by a Jewish Israeli contractor (I have a partial name and address). He worked faithfully from six in the morning to eleven at night in return for promises from the contractor which turned out to be worthless. When he came to the contractor’s home for his wage, NIS2,700, the contractor called the police who took him to Ramallah roadblock. Not only was he not paid, he only had NIS10 in his pocket and this is how he was turned in to the police.Is there any possibility that we can help him to get his wages? To whom should we turn?10:50 a.m.The detainee is released and the two friends leave the roadblock together.A doctor arrives at the roadblock by car and is not allowed to leave, the soldier explains to him in English that from now on he needs a permit.11:00 a.m.The robot returns to the sappers’ vehicle.No one is allowed to cross in the direction of the northern roadblock. We are sent, together with the beggar women, across the junction before the explosion.One of the soldiers hurries us up because we are holding up the explosion.An old woman totters on crutches half way to the northern roadblock and is sent back.11:15 a.m.An explosion is heard.