Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 8.11.07, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
14.00 The entrance to Zeita is closed by cement blocks.
14.05 Za'tara
From the West the passage is clear but from the north, from Nablus 75 cars wait . We informed the centre and N. that said that he would phone the DCO in Nablus to find out why there was such pressure.
14.10 Yitzhar Empty.
14.15 Beit Furik. We had a meeting here with a Palestinian woman who had been a witness in the morning to the detaining of another woman. One of the soldiers had returned her ID and at once taken it back as if playing a game and when the woman got annoyed she was punished by being detained. The woman whom she had been going to meet described what happened and the soldier apologised and so the matter ended.
While we were standing next to the turnstiles we saw that there was no pressure at the pedestrian lane but that in the car lane coming from Nablus there was a long line. Only one checking area as one sees always at Beit Furik. Even though there was no pressure of pedestrians there were three soldiers checking there while only two were checking the cars very slowly and carefully.
14.30 We saw that since we had arrived a thin man had been standing next to the checkpoint and not moving from there. We were told by someone that he was "not right in his head". We then spoke to the commander who had come to speak to us and he noticing this and ordered the man to go home.
A Palestinian from Beit Furik arrived with a box with vegetables, sorted out by kind and in plastic coverings. He could not get it through the turnstiles and so asked to take it through an open lane but instead he was ordered to put the box down on the ground and bring each parcel separately for checking.
14.45 We spoke to G. at the centre about the pressure of cars and again at 15.00 about the same matter.
15.25 Checkpoint Huwwara. 2 detainees
in the isolation. One was freed by the DCO captain and the other whose number had appeared on the list was no longer there when we checked at 16.40.The man who was freed said he had been punished because of speaking in Arabic to his friend in the line complaining about the checkpoint. A soldier who understood Arabic was angry and said that he would show him how hard life could be and that if he wanted to, he could also demand that he sing and then sent him to the isolation.
3 checking areas were manned by military police who demanded the raising or lowering of clothing and checked IDs and bags. A humanitarian line, very busy today with students on their way home.
An activist of the Ecumenical movement is there with two guests who live in the same entrance in Jerusalem and tells us about a man ( who maybe, had an epileptic fit or something like that) and who had lost consciousness. The activist called the soldiers and heard them summoning an ambulance and had seated the man on a chair. Afterwards his friends had carried him behind the humanitarian area. A car had come from Huwwara and a doctor to examine the man. The doctor told us there was no cause for alarm and some time later the man supported by his friends went to the parking lot.
Checkpoint Za'tara. 3 checking areas for cars coming from Nablus. 36 cars in both directions.
17.03 Marda. The lone house and its windows covered in camoflague. 2 Hummers with blinking lights.