Huwwara, Beit Furik AM

HUWWARA, Tuesday 6 July 2004 AMObservers: Susan M., Tal A., Nurit V., Etti P. (reporting), and Miriam, a guest colour = red>07:45 -- There was an unannounced checkpoint at Jit junction, where we saw two trucks waiting.08:00 --- Huwwara South There were about 30 people waiting in line. A bearded man in a white galabiyeh came over and asked our help. His 20-year-old son had a referral to hospital in Nablus which was written in Arabic and unstamped. Lieut. A. said that the father and his son had given different versions of the son’s illness, so he didn’t believe them.Initially, there were three detainees, then the number rose to eight. One of the men said he was already 30 [Palestinian men between the ages of 16 and 30 have a very difficult time moving around the Occupied Territories -- even when they are in possession of the hard-to-obtain permits, they are likely to be stopped at every checkpoint so that their ID details can be cross-checked against a General Security Services' (GSS) list of security suspects. The check can take a long time and meanwhile the men are virtually prisoners at the checkpoints where the soldiers impound their ID cards until clearance is relayed to them from the GSS]. A. said the man had brought only a photocopy of his ID and the details must be checked (he’d been there since 06:00). The man said he'd lost his ID card yesterday and hadn’t yet had time to inform the District Co-ordination Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters].Because of the construction work – the concrete dividers between the lines were being removed -- which slowed everything , there were now 60 people waiting. A. was working quietly and calmly, preventing pressure from building up.09:00 –A. released all the detainees, including the owner of the photocopied ID card. A soldier , M., checked a group of foreign nationals who'd arrived in two large yellow taxis; he behaved in a very hostile manner towards me and our group. He dealt with the tourists in very good English and with considerable hostility. A young woman in the group told me they were tourists and didn’t belong to any organization. I explained to her that they needed to obtain a visa in advance or get a special letter from their embassy. She and the rest of the group were obviously reluctant to talk to us. Most of the tourists boarded the taxis and left , but two remained with the detainees. Two men from the group asked for help. They wanted to enter Nablus and were being denied permission to do so. It turned out they were members of the Palestinian-American Congress. They were both very hostile towards me. I discovered that not only hadthey been refused permission to go to Nablus, but two of them were being detained and the aggressive M. had confiscated their passports on the grounds that they'd lied about the number of passports in their possession I call R., at the DCO, who promised to send someone to release them.Sgt. A., the checkpoint commander arrived, polite and businesslike, but sceptical. I told him about the passports and complained about M. He explained that he was new at the checkpoint and didn’t know M. yet, but promised to deal with the matter . He released the tourists, who didn’t even thank him.08:15: Huwwara Northp>Eight detainees were gathered together under a narrow camouflage netting with their backs to the checkpoint and a soldier standing over them with rifle at the ready. There were no confiscated taxis! People with large cases or bags were taken aside to the spot where porters with carts are checked and here they had to empty the contents of their bags onto the ground. At our request, the soldiers brought over a table for this purpose.All the detainees were released except for two awaiting further questioning because they were under suspicion, and a third who was detained later than the others. .10:25 – Beit FurikThere was almost nobody in line and no cars waiting to go through; A., from the DCO, was as friendly as usual and left us with nothing to do. 10:45: Za'tara - Tapuah junctionA bus was stopped for checking. The 30 passengers had to get off.