Huwwara North & South

Huwwara north & south 20.1.2005, AM Observers: Osnat A, Michal S, Naomi L, Tal-Li B. (reporting). Guest: Dana On the way we can already see that this is no ordinary day – thre is not a single car at Zaatra junction, a place where there are usually at least 15 cars waiting to go south.We reached the checkpoint at 7.15 and both the north and the south were completely empty. From time to time a family went through in festive clothes. A truck carrying crates of vegetables reaches the south checkpoint. It is coming from Beit Iba which is closed, so is Awarta. The commander tells the truck passengers that Awarta can’t be closed and insists it must be open. The truck passengers carries three crates over to the other side, several hundred meters away. Even the carters are not here today to help. We drove to Awarta. 3 trucks were waiting across the road, although the checking position was not manned. The back-to-back was empty. The truckers say they’ve been there since 3.30 am because nobody told them the checkpoint would be closed today. “It’s our festival, not yours,” they say.A telephone call to the humanitarian hotline reveals that the Palestinian Authority gave the order to close the checkpoint and free the people “who work there.” The truck drivers claim that no Palestinians work at the checkpoint and only the people who come to collect the merchandise are in charge of unloading and loading. It is evident that the lack of information is frustrating. The truck drivers have no prospect of going through Huwwara till Sunday.The hotline people claim that they informed the soldiers at the checkpoints that Awarta was closed and no trucks should be directed there.When we returned to Huwwara, the commander already knew about the changed order, but did not bother to apologize for misleading the truckers.We left at 8.15.At the entrance to Madama there is an improved checkpoint constructed out of stones, the same one we encountered two weeks ago (it wasn’t there last week). Because of the festival and the early hour there is no traffic there either. The explanation, as usual, is that there is an alert.