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HUWWARA, BEIT IBA, Tuesday 4 May 2004 PM Observers: Ada R.(reporting on Beit Iba), Tali B., Efrat Y., Tami G., and Ella H. (reporting on Huwwara) color = red> Summary: It was another day of worsening attitudes to Palestinians. We witnessed more humiliations and new instances of arbitrary decisions on the roads (not necessarily at the checkpoints). Soldiers detained a group of young men, including personnel from the Palestinian Authority police, on their way from work in Ramallah to their homes in Tulkarm: they humiliated them by scattering their clothes on the road and throwing their uniforms into the wadi [valley]. We dealt with a middle-aged couple taken from their za’atar (hyssop) fields in Qadum and detained for hours at the Jit junction. We encountered an “occupation innovation”: an order closing all the stores in Huwwara, although the inhabitants were permitted to move around outdoors. We witnessed a meeting of the paratroop brigade with the psychologist at Huwwara south.En Route to the Checkpoints 13:30 --- The checkpoint at Qalqiliya was operative. There were no pedestrians, but there was a long line of cars waiting at the exit from Qalqiliya and a short line at the entry point. We didn’t stay.There was no checkpoint at Azzun. At the Sarra checkpoint, the gates were open. There were no Palestinians at all on the hilltop only soldiers.Jit junction –We drove here at the initiative of our driver, N., after we had failed to find the za'atar pickers, S. and his wife, at the Sarra checkpoint to which our colleague Dafna had directed us by telephone. Beside the road, we saw a pitiful sight, a middle-aged couple from Qadum near the settlement of Qedumim, who told us they had been picking za’atar in one of their fields and had been arrested by a soldier who brought them to the junction. When we met them they had been waiting for two hours, their donkey had been left alone in the field. In the past they'd been told they didn’t need a permit to work in their fields. Ada went over to the soldiers to ask why they were being detained. A soldier explained that the officer had brought them to the junction because…they were too close to the fence of the Jewish settlement (!!!)A settler from Qedumim, who introduced himself as S’s “boss”, came to help, as it were, and was very angry that S. had called us. Ada contacted R. of the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army wing that deals with civilian matters] who promised to send one of his officers to clarify the matter. We waited about 20 minutes , Ada again called R. , then she talked to the officer R. had sent, and asked S. to let us know what happened. We left the couple at 14:15.At about 15:45, S. reported that they’d been released, and were now making their way on foot back to the field and the donkey, a considerable distance, but nobody had thought of driving them back. Ada apologized to him for not being able to take him because we were a long way away and couldn’t leave the checkpoints. The next day S. called Ada from the Qalqiliya checkpoint and told her he’d gone to obtain a permit to work on his land – although he’d been told he didn’t need one, and now he was stuck at the checkpoint there for hours – a couple of days in the life of a small za’atar farmer in the occupied territories.A short drive from Jit junction to Sarra, and we came upon another sight: on the side of the road facing the wadi was a pile of bags and scattered clothing. Alongside stood three soldiers. On the other side of the road stood a group of 10-15 Palestinians. Suddenly we saw the soldiers throwing something into the wadi. We went down to check and saw that they’d thrown gray-green garments, in other words Palestinian police uniforms, which had been in some of the bags. Ada told them that their actions were neither legal nor fitting; they responded with grimaces and shouts; and she then threatened to complain to the military authorities. As a result, the soldiers ordered the detainees to go down into the wadi and collect the uniforms. Then they were permitted “wahad, wahad” [one by one] to collect their scattered clothes and wait. This group of young people, we learned, had been taken off a bus coming from Ramallah, where some of them serve as members of the Palestinian Authority's police force, en route to their homes in Tulkarm.They complained that while they try to catch terrorists to protect us in Tel Aviv, Israeli soldiers humiliate them and “how can there ever be peace?” A group of settlers from Tapuah passed by, stopped and cursed us for talking to the Palestinians, and another group shouted at us that we’re garbage, defiling the land. Ada answered them and they drove away. The three soldiers wouldn’t talk to us. We couldn’t find out what unit they belonged to. They made faces and animal noises at us . We tried to telephone one of the detainees at around 16:00 but couldn’t establish contact, and he didn’t call to say they had been released. When we passed through in the evening on our way back, we saw the three soldiers in the same place. Ada, who was sitting next to N., saw one of the soldiers aim his sniper’s rifle at the wadi and asked N. to stop; but when they saw us stopping, the soldier stood up and began walking down the road.Huwwara south – entrance to Nablus (Ella reporting) We arrived at 14:45 to find five paratroopers manning the checkpoint. They tended to cooperate with us and even displayed flexibility and discretion. A long line of pedestrians was waiting to enter Nablus, and some told us that nobody had been through for 20 minutes. When they saw me , they tried to recruit me to persuade the soldiers. I did succeed in getting a man through on his way to a neurological test , and pleaded successfully for a 13-year-old boy -- whom the soldiers didn’t believe was under 15 -- so that they did let him through. Thirty woman and girls in party clothes arrived with a bride en route to her wedding in Nablus. The soldiers tried to delay them a little, by asking them to stand in line etc. I mediated so as to speed up their passage.When we arrived there were about 15 detainees at the checkpoint. At 15:40 some of their ID cards were returned, but the soldiers continued to detain more people without permits [ID cards are held by the soldiers while names and ID numbers are cross-checked against a list compiled and kept by the General Security Services a.k.a. the Shin Bet, or Shabak. This process can take a very long time ]. Thus, a patient who presented a referral for a test scheduled for 15:5 was not allowed through; another with a sickness certificate whose date had passed (April) was turned back; a boy who had come with his sister en route to their sick mother in Nablus (the sister stood beside me and complained that they were being treated like animals) was also turned back; there was an engineer whose licence didn’t convince the soldiers; and a man with a permit being punished by detention because he had tried to get his permit-less friend across (he was allowed through after I intervened).When we left at 17:15, there were some 20 detainees at Huwwara south, men of the "suspect" age- group [16 to 35, Palestinian men in this age-group experience great difficulty in moving around the occupied territories even if they are in possession of the much-prized permits] without any permits, waiting in the heat, and complaining of thirst and the need to relieve themselves (a vendor passed by and sold them sweet, coloured drinks). Since no detainee waited more than three hours [generally accepted as the length of time Palestinians may be held for this check without any possibility of appeal against the time it is taking], all we could do was ask the soldiers to speed things up; but they kept repeating that it wasn’t in their hands. Why does a simple computer check takes so long? The soldiers claim that it’s due to manpower shortages (they suggested that we volunteer).We met the brigade psychologist at the checkpoint and learned that she was working mainly with commanders and officers. She had come to see for herself and to gain impressions from talking to the soldiers. She said that the paratroop brigade was devoting considerable thought to the issue of the checkpoints and the conduct of the soldiers there. However, her attitude and the army's is governed above all else by the need to get a job done. I heard soldiers telling her that at first they had found it hard at the checkpoint, but their “Huwwara checkpoint pride” at their successes in catching terrorists (even a woman terrorist arrested at Ariel, they said, had been afraid to go through Huwwara), made things easier for them. We tried to convey through her messages about the need for shelter against the elements, the expediting of computer checks, a more empathetic approach to the Palestinians waiting at the checkpoint (the soldiers are “hurt” when the Palestinians lie to them, and punish anyone they catch lying. It’s important to explain to young soldiers that this is their way of defending themselves in a humiliating situation).Huwwara north:The situation here was relatively acceptable: there was shelter for the detainees and they were released at a reasonable rate. The checkpoint commander spoke Arabic.Beit Iba – Ada R. (reporting)The Beit Iba checkpoint looked quiet, and I thought that there was closure and that nobody was going through. But we soon discovered a line of hundreds of man and women standing and waiting at the exit from Nablus. I looked for N., the checkpoint commander, in order to say hello but I was told he was up in the war room and would be down shortly. I asked the soldiers to tell him we were down here waiting for him. Only one soldier was checking, in addition to the soldiers at the concrete barriers who were looking at papers. The sole soldier there conducted a 15 to 20-minute conversation with one of the people waiting to pass, who looked about 40, joking with him and chatting while a line of hundreds of people, including heavily-pregnant women, feeble old men, sick people and infants on their way back from medical treatment in Nablus waited and sweltered in the sun, two metres away from him. When we called his attention to the line, he said he had felt like getting to know the man.After another 15 minutes in which a few women and not a single man went through, there was considerable unrest in the line and the crowd began to move forward with angry shouts. Another two soldiers were summoned and called out "Arja! Arja!" [get back! get back !] aiming their rifles at the crowd. I went over to try and bring N. down. At the entrance to the soldiers quarters, I met S. [of the DCO], our old acquaintance from Beit Iba and Huwwara. He, whose task was to make life easier for the Palestinian population, began to curse when he saw me. I tried to reason with him and tell him that the situation at the checkpoint was dangerous for the soldiers, who were armed but greatly outnumbered. His answer was another series of curses and a threat to call the blue police. I asked: Why police? And he answered that we were disturbing them at their job. Meanwhile the atmosphere was heating up further at the exit from Nablus.A few minutes later N. came down and I explained to him, too, how dangerous it was when such a large number of people were waiting for hours in the sun, not to speak of how unjust. Within a few minutes, back gates were opened to let men through (through the road) and at the checkpoint itself the women were passed through with record speed. In minutes the checkpoint was completely empty!!! Later there was a “reasonable” line, with a 15 -30 minutes wait. We stayed a while here because of two cases : a teacher, whose papers were all in order, who was detained because he looked “suspicious” to the soldier (maybe his beard? maybe no reason). The second was the case of a brother and sister – she was a patient discharged from the Nablus hospital who was allowed through, but he was stopped and she wouldn’t leave without him. With the courteous and efficient aid of N., their problem was solved and they were released. It turned out that the teacher’s ID had been lost. It was late and we gained the impression that N. would deal with the matter appropriately. We left the teacher our telephone number in case he wasn’t released and left for Huwwara to collect the watchers there.In conclusion – the way homeOn our way home, we saw a Border Police jeep in Huwwara village, where all the stores were closed. A passerby explained to us that this had been the demand. Nonetheless, the villagers were free to move around. Why? Not clear.