'Awarta, 'Azzun 'Atma, Beit Furik, Habla, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 5.9.13, Afternoon

Translator:  Charles K.

Rosh Hashana is being celebrated today in Israel (few Israeli vehicles on the road, as on Shabbat).  It’s an ordinary day in Palestine.  But the Huwwara checkpoint is closed.

13:40  Habla checkpoint.  The gate is open; it will close at 14:00.

14:20  A water reservoir is under construction on the hill opposite the village of Madama, a joint project of the Palestinian Authority and the People of the United States – US AID (cf. photo).  You can see to the north the village of Araq-Burin atop a high cliff.  A resident of the village said that on a clear day you can see the sea.

14:34  Long lines on the way to the Huwwara checkpoint, hundreds of vehicles stuck waiting for permission to continue to Nablus (cf. photo).  We call the humanitarian office.  They’ll look into it.

Drivers coming from Nablus tell us vehicles going to Nablus aren’t being allowed through.  A police vehicle and a military vehicle come from the direction of the checkpoint.

14:50  The cars start advancing slowly.

14:56  Huwwara checkpoint.  The checkpoint commander says “they were looking for someone heading for Nablus” but didn’t find him.  The humanitarian office transfers us to the DCO; there the soldier tells us the checkpoint has opened.  In response to the question, why was the checkpoint there, she says: for security reasons.

Again settlers have hung signs on the checkpoint fence, like “New settlements, a new policy.”

Warnings, this time against Christian missionaries (for a change)…etc (cf. photo)

15:02  We can still see a long line of vehicles stretching to the open Huwwara checkpoint.

15:04  Awarta checkpoint.  Closed, as usual.

15:08  Beit Furiq checkpoint.  Open.

15:10  Beit Dajan checkpoint.  Open.

15:25  Heavy traffic in Huwwara of vehicles heading toward Nablus.

15:27  Two jeeps lying in wait next to the village of Beita.

15:31  Za’tara checkpoint.  A pair of Border Police soldiers stationed on each side, next to the checkpoint and next to the (settlers’) hitchhiking station going toward Nablus.  As we passed we didn’t see they’d stopped any vehicles,

15:45  Azzun Atma checkpoint.  No laborers show up because of the holiday.  The checkpoint is empty.  Soldiers sit in the inspection rooms.