Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Fri 23.10.09, Morning

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Observers: 
Ofra T., Orit D., Michal V. (reporting)
Oct-23-2009
|
Morning

Translation:  Suzanne O.

 

Beit Furiq

9:25 a.m. 

There are three soldiers present.  One of them asked us to move away and stand behind the concrete blocks.  When, in spite of his request, we approached the roadblock he warned us that he could arrest us because we are in Area A.  Another soldier phoned to report on 'activists who are crossing the concrete blocks' and asked for the police to be sent for.  One of the soldiers shouted: "Only Baruch Marzel can".

 

Huwwara roadblock

9:30 a.m. 

The pedestrian crossing is locked.  There were 5 soldiers at the car crossing.  Two of them stood with their weapons at the ready.  A polite DCO representative came over to us, said that there are no problems and that the 'roadblock is ticking over'.  He explained it is not possible to cross the roadblock on foot.  A permit to cross on foot is given only when a DCO officer is present and the person crossing can convince him to let them cross as, for example, if he lives near and has been unable to get a taxi.  He also reported that for the past two months Israeli Arabs are permitted to cross the roadblock on any day and not just at the weekend.  He also explained that two forward-command-groups guard the olive pickers in the area.

 

Tapuach Junction

9:50 a.m. 

A minibus from Nablus carrying doctors and radiographers to a meeting in

Ramallah is stopped.  The soldiers claimed that possibly the ID card of one of them is forged.  A few minutes later the commander arrived and took away two documents to be checked.

10:15 a.m.

The police arrived.  The owner of the document explained to the policeman that he crosses the roadblock with it on a daily basis and there has never been a problem.  At 10:30 a.m., the military jeep returned and it turns out that during the inspection it transpired that there may be a problem with the document.  The military personnel and the police claimed that the photograph in the document had been stuck over the stamp instead of the stamp being over the photo.  In such a case there is a suspicion that a photo has been pasted over the original one.  The military personnel pointed out that, however, sometimes the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior produces documents in which the photo is stuck over the stamp.  The military personnel passed the document over to the police to deal with.  10:30 a.m., after some conversation with the owner of the document, the police released him and the minibus went on its way.