Huwwara

HUWWARA, Wednesday 10 November 2004 AMObservers: Toshka K., Miriam S., Hanna A. (reporting)colour=red> Unannounced checkpoints08:15 – There was an unannounced checkpoint at Jit junction. On the way back, at around 10:30, the line of cars from Huwwara and Beit Iba was longer than before.10:25 – There was an unannounced checkpoint near [the Jewish settlement of] Yizhar. The Jit junction checkpoint was an indication of what to expect at Huwwara South. Huwwara SouthWhen we arrived here at around 08:30, the situation was catastrophic. Crowds were massed around the crossing point. People were standing in lines ( for men over 40, men under 40, and two lines of women, five lines in all ) which stretched as far as the parking area and the improvised market. People were on their way to Nablus preparing for Friday, the last day of Ramadan.The positions facing the turnstiles were all manned by soldiers. Another soldier stood beside the turnstiles. Another line, of women, was being held back by barriers like those used at mass assemblies, and was being controlled by still more soldiers. From time to time people surged forward and the soldiers shouted at them to go back. Small children who were not being carried by parents were crushed among the adults. Pregnant women as well. Since husbands and wives were in separate lines, the women were forced to wait for the men. More and more people turned to us for help. Appeals to the checkpoint commander met with no response, but he said the pressure would soon ease. Telephone calls to the army's " humanitarian" hotline, and to the District Coordinating Office (DCO) representative at the northern checkpoint to send someone over did not help [the DCO is the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] . The soldiers wouldn't allow us to stand in the area between the detainees' "pen" and the women’s line which was confined by the barriers. We succeeded in getting through two women with children who were in danger of being crushed.Detainees: at 09:30 there were 13, including six women [detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. The detainees' ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. When we checked with the DCO representative why women were being detained, he explained that these were today’s orders. At 09.50, the women were released, three of them allowed through to Nablus, the rest were turned back.At 10:00, the pressure did ease and few people remained but others kept arriving. We feared that the situation might be repeated this afternoon when people tried to return from Nablus. Huwwara NorthThere were two detainees. Progress has come to Huwwara North – there was a computer for checking the detainees' ID details. There were only a few people going through.A severely-crippled girl (with a deformed chest) aroused the suspicion of the woman soldier and she was taken for checking.In summary:What happened at Huwwara South this morning was further proof, if proof were needed, of the fearful nature of the checkpoints. The turnstiles [which are not simple turnstiles such as one finds in a subway station, but high , revolving gates made of steel bars: each segment is barely large enough to admit one average-sized person; there is virtually no room to spare for anything that person may be carrying , whether a child or a parcel; passage for pregnant women or for the elderly is extremely difficult and frightening], meant allegedly to impose order and control, instead create even more tension and suffering, to say the least of it. If they were intended to keep a distance between the soldiers and the Palestinians, then the opposite is achieved when the crowding is such that extra lines have to be opened outside the usual routes followed.