Huwwara South & North

HUWWARA , Sunday 5 December 2004 AM Observers: Iris S., Edna L., Sharon V., Ditza Y. (reporting) SummaryHuwwara North was quiet, traffic flowed properly , the soldiers treated the Palestinians decently and there were almost no detainees. At Huwwara South the situation was tense, and so, apart from two short forays that two of us made to the north, we spent most of the time in Huwwara South..07:20 – On our way to Huwwara we encountered an unannounced checkpoint at Funduk. About 25 vehicles were held there at a standstill. At 07:35 we came across an unannounced checkpoint at Jit junction. Huwwara South 08:00 — There was a very long line, with between 70 and 80 people (perhaps more) standing quietly. The turnstiles were not operating because the electrical lines connecting them to the soldiers' checking stations had been torn [these 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. They are operated by remote control fro the soldiers' positions]. Only one soldier was checking. A young man of 23 came over to us, he was a triple amputee (both arms and one leg) and also had one blind eye; he said he'd been here since early in the morning. He'd reached the checking position but was not being allowed through to Nablus where he had an appointment with a specialist from London who would only be seeing patients today. I approached the checkpoint commander who refused to answer me. We did not succeed in contacting R., the head of the local 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] . We contacted the organization Physicians for Human Rights who took the details and promised to deal with the case.08:15 – Tension was rising, there were more and more people and more crowding. Old people and mothers with babies started up a line outside the checking hut and asked our help, but there was nothing we could do. The soldiers were nervous, and one of them was shouting at the Palestinians to move back or else nobody would be allowed through.08:30 – We contacted the DCO and asked for a representative to come. We had seen a DCO soldier at Huwwara North and we asked for him to be sent over. There were some 10 detainees in the pen. [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]. One of the detainees appealed to us – his papers were in order but they wouldn’t let him through. The soldier at the checking position said he couldn’t help because another soldier had sent him to the "pen". We couldn’t find this other soldier.08:45 – We made another appeal to the DCO, and the woman soldier who answered said they were aware of the situation and would try to do something.A young man whose cousin has been wounded by a soldier asked our help: he wanted to transfer the injured man to a hospital in Israel but was not allowed through.09:00 – We contacted the DCO again and again were assured that an officer would come.09:10 – The DCO again: they said a representative was on his way.09:15 –Two DCO officers arrived, a major and a lieutenant, and within minutes dozens of people went through, which proved that it could be done (the officer checked them all).We sent the amputee to the major who checked the man's papers and seemed surprised that he hadn't been allowed to pass. The detainees were also released. The soldiers were influenced by the major’s conduct and seemed less tough towards the Palestinians and towards us.10:00 –A Palestinian businessman coming from Huwwara North, told us that near his village, Sarra, there was a checkpoint where the situation was very bad. Large numbers of people used it, he said, and the soldiers treated them in a humiliating fashion.10:15 –Huwwara NorthTwo settlers, a young man and a young woman, arrived in their car. He got out and brought the soldiers chocolate; they were doing wonderful work, he told the soldiers, and they should pay no attention to us, because we were a lunatic fringe.10:40 – Huwwara South Again there were dozens of people in line, but the checks were now rapid. A student hurrying to an exam appealed to us. We asked the soldier to let him go ahead of the line. He refused because he said the student had made the same request yesterday and granting him the privilege led to squabbles and blows.10:45 – We left.