AM

Beit Furik, Hawwara 24.1.2004 Watchers: Ronny H, Nora O, Michal M, Nurit L, Victoria B, Hanna B General: We divided into two groups. This report covers Beit Furik and Hawwara. A separate report will be written for Sarra and Dir Sharaf.The same soldiers we meet last week were stationed at Beit Furik this week. The queue was short and passage was fairly smooth. High School students over the age of 16 with valid certification were not let through and asked to produce permits. We tried to phone both the DCO and the IDF Humanitarian Hotline, to no avail. We feel that this problem should be on the agenda of every meeting with the relevant authorities. Hawwara north: no queue and a smooth passage for all. In the south we found approximately 60 detainees who stood in the freezing cold waiting for their ID's. Our intensive intervention with the DCO officer and the fact that he agreed to move Ofer (known to us from Qalandiya) from the north to the south solved the problem and the Palestinians got their ID's and were let go.It should be mentioned that the atmosphere at the CP was positive and the parachutists stationed there behaved cordially and in a dignified manner. The mayor of Hawwara came to the CP to see us in order to express his sorrow for the stone throwing on the car of our TLV colleges. He would like to have a meeting with us at his office soon.