'Anata, 'Atara, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sat 27.6.09, Afternoon
Summary. A man at Huwwara tells us that there is no removing of checkpoints as the media tries to tell us. He said that the Israelis always try to say that as long as we, the Palestinians are here, we the Israelis are here too.
For the entire Saturday morning 27.6.2009 the north entrances and the east to the city of Ramallah are blocked. The soldiers no longer go wild in the city but claimed that a car with terrorist materials had been found in the area. The people we met complained of the stoppage of life and the closing of the checkpoints caused people to lose what they so much need and that is a day of work, medical treatment and meetings.
At the Anata checkpoint at 15.00 at the exit from the city an enormous line has formed in the direction of the dividing fence. All cars are carefully checked by the border police. People say this is nothing compared to the morning hours.
At Za'tara cars pass and the checking is random.
Checkpoint Atara. The checkpoint which had been closed all the morning was now open in the afternoon. The cars do not stop next to the cement blocks but the soldiers are in the sentry tower. Their heads are seen through the slits at the top and their rifles are pointed towards the road and the cars entering Ramallah.
Huwwara. An open passage to and from Nablus to all cars and also to that of Palestinians from Israel. Random checking of cars. Most of them pass without delay but when a car is randomly checked there is a long delay and the passengers are bothered and their IDs checked. Buses and vans unload their passengers who have to pass through the pedestrian passage. The Palestinians say that the reason for this is that the passengers are mainly young men who have to undergo a further check, x-ray, ID, baggage. Besides these passengers hardly any people go by on foot. Whoever can uses the little freedom that they have now.
It is sad to see that in this slight lessening of the checkpoints the people who had made their livings there. The taxi drivers especially say that the journey to Nablus will not help them because there are more taxis than people and after that the vendors who somehow manage to make a few coins in spite of the nastiness of the soldiers and one of them wanders around with a small carton of chewing gum.