Huwwara

HUWWARA, Saturday 4 December 2004 AM Observers: Nurit L., Hava H., Rachel H., Liora, Naomi R., Vivi Ts. (reporting) Guests: Three members of the Ecumenical Church colour = red>Huwwara SouthAt first glance the checkpoint seemed chaotic, with crowds of people waiting in lines on both sides; but a somewhat comforting surprise awaited us: the turnstiles were out of order and the soldiers were checking people outside them. Passage was faster and more humane [these are not simple turnstiles such as one finds in a subway station, but high , revolving gates made of steel bars, each segment 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]. According to the soldiers, the Palestinians had cut the electricity lines to the turnstiles in the night, and they were in fact severed. At one stage, the soldiers tried to operate the turnstiles manually. but they soon gave up because people were crushed and crowded between the bars.DetaineesThere were about 30 detainees who were released in groups after about an hour and a half.[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]. We showed the soldiers the letter from the brigade about the delays: they were not impressed, with justification, because it is open to various interpretations. However, thanks to our intercession a 25-year-old father with a two-month-old baby girl was detained for only a few minutes. One of the Palestinians said that he had heard that the age of permitted passage had been reduced from 30 or 35 to 25.There was one unpleasant incident involving out guests – a 2nd lieutenant representing the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] asked them to erase what they had photographed at the checkpoint, and, when we protested, he said that Machsomwatch had a special permit from the Ministry of Defence and the CO of the local command, but this did not extend to foreign visitors. After clarifications through the army, the DCO and Yehudit E. [a veteran leader of Machsomwatch], it transpired that this was true and the guests were obliged to erase pictures in which soldiers appeared. They were told that in future they would need a special permit to stand at the checkpoint. This is entirely unreasonable since members of the Church are permitted to enter and exit Nablus through the checkpoint and to stand in line there , because the Church has a branch in Nablus.A sergeant confiscated a keffiye [Arab headdress or head-scarf] decorated with drawings of a Kalashnikov rifle, arguing that it constituted "material meant to incite" [against the occupying power]. Groups of Israeli Arabs with Israeli ID cards were not allowed to go through for family celebrations. Students who were not from an-Najah University were also barred [an-Najah University has an arrangement with the Israel army whereby those of its students who do not live in Nablus may return home on Wednesdays and come back into Nablus for the start of the teaching week on Saturdays, without the need to obtain a specual permit]. Tapuah junctionThere was a nightmarish line from the westerly direction. People were taken off buses and taxis and checked. At 11.30, there was no checking at all and the southerly line grew shorter. 11:00 — Yitzhar junctionThere was a line of six cars waiting to travel south.