Hawwara

Hawwara, Thursday 1.9.05 PMObservers: Maya and Orianne M. Nurit W.L. (reporting)Hanna K. transllatingSummary: A relatively scant traffic at the checkpoint, an acceptable behaviour of the soldiers, a three hour detention without an official reason, just because an Identity card was taken by a patrolling jeep.As we traveled – the two teams, that of Beth Iba and that of Huwwara - with N. we first let the team descend at Beth Iba.14.40 Jit Junction – there are five cars at the checkpoint, but the time it takes to check them is acceptable.15.00 At the Yithar Junction- in the direction of Tapuach, soutward bound, there are 13 vehicles, most after having been checked at the Huwwara checkpoint. We did not stay there because of the late hour.Hawwara checkpoint-The street vendors are concentrated at the taxi parking aread. We saw no soldiers at the southern checkpoint, as was reported in previous report.15.10 At the checkpoint itself- it is quiet and the traffice is sparse, although we have received a report from Micky F. that in the morning there was a lively movement of those entering Nablus, probably in order to buy things for the first school day on Saturday, 3.9.05, and therefore we expected all those to pass in the opposite direction in the afternoon hours.There are also very few cars in the car queue heading for Nablus, but in the queue leaving Nablus we saw a long queue of vehicles. Immediately upon our arrival we asked the checkpoint commander, S. whether at noon there was pressure, and his answer was negative.The checkpoint commander (two years in Israel, immigrated without his family, speaks Hebrew fluently) welcomed us very pleasantly and he and his soldiers cooperated with us all the time we stayed at the checkpoint.Most of the time there were two soldier checking in the front posts, there were two rear active turnstiles, with two to four soldiers checking bags and belongings. The delay was mostly there, because in the front checking posts the soldiers worked quickly. One remark: the women were not quite clear in which queue they should stand, and from time to time they got mixed up in the passages in the men's queue which obviously caused them discomfort.One of the lanes continues being "occupied" by the dog. From time to time, when it turns around, it frightens the small children – till when?As we expected and also told the checkpoint cocmmander – the flow of people increased around 16.00, but all along the shift the traffic was relatively sparse and there was no need to open a humanitarian queue.One of the soldiers stood with his weapon on-the-ready in the post facing south and sporadically checked the papers of the people entering Nablus. We asked in the presence of the commander not to point the weapon at the people and our request was accepted.15.45- A young man who turns around the checkpoint since 15.30 is asked by the commander to enter the detainees shed. But he is not detained. It turns out that he is a traveling salesman from Hebron and carries in his car school equipment, (intended for a stationery shop in Nablus. We talked with his boss from Nablus). He drove on the Apartheid road, probably in order to shorten the way. He has a permit and he often enter Nablus. This time he was caught by a patrolling jeep. The soldiers confiscated his ID and told him to wait until they checked. He walked on foot from the junction to the checkpoint, on the assumption that there he would be dealt with more efficiently and quickly. S. the checkpoint commander, called someone and was told that in half an hour the jeep will pass at the checkpoint and the man would be given his ID We gave him water and as time elapsed contacted the humanitarian center.16.45- After over an hour the checkpoint commander told us that the jeep had been forced to go elsewhere to deal with another urgent matter and would be able to return to the checkpoint in only two hours. At that stage (after consulting with Naomi L.) we tried to call E. the Company commander, E. the Batallion commander and in the end succeeded in talking with the deputy brigade commander S. We gave him the young man's details, stressed that he is not detained or arrested but that his identity card without which, as everybody knows, he cannot move, has been confiscated, and that he is waiting. He promised to find out, to try and solve the problem and to return us a call, but, regrettably, the papers were returned only two hours later. It must be pointed out that the checkpoint commander did not neglect him, acted fairly, called often and even allowerd him to go and eat something. We thanked him for his efforts, but made it clear that it was not he who initiated the event, and that we are obliged to report and to phone because of the long delay (three hours) and out of fear the the papers would finally get lost.This is a good example for the small injustices of the occupation: there is no consideration for people – their needs, their work, their time, their existence. No matter what other need – always takes precedence over their, and in order to maintain the security of the settlers and the regulations that the army fixes, they turn transparent, non-existent.16.10- A young man on crutches has an argument with one of the checking soldiers. He passed besides the turnstiles, between the car queue and the humanitarian queue, was asked to stand in order to check his papers. Although the request was legitimate under the conditions of the checkpoint and the tone of voice was also acceptable, something in the communication went wrong, the young man shouted shrilly and insisted to be checked by the other soldier. Amongst other things he told him: "what a pity that you country puts you here to fulfil this task". To our great surprise the soldiers did not respond and let him pass. Even we tried to calm him down and suggested to let him take a ride on a departing vehicle, but he refused. A different team in a similar situation would probably have seen to it the the young man be 'educated' and detained. After he passed a pleasant soldier, M. from Jerusalem, asked us – did you see what happened here? I try to be alright, so why insult? 16.20- The pressure at the checkpoint increases as expected, busses pass in both direction but the waiting time is acceptable. Until 17.00 the number of people decreased considerably as well as the pressure in the vehicle queue. A taxi driver who had been warned many time again passed the famous line and was detained by the checkpoint commander, but for a few moments only. He was released after a short warning.17.30- As the traffic has ceased almost completely we decided to drive with Nadim to the village of Aqraba, where we gave a poor family with means of existence (a single mother, divorced, who had returned to her mother's home with three children, one with anemia. The father is a criminal in prison and has not connection with the children). We brought them school satchels and and small donation toward the school equipment.18.20- We returned to the Huwwara checkpoint to see what had happened to the lad from Hebron whose ID had been taken. We didn't find him. There was some confusion in the information (is he still here? Did he go away?) Because it was getting late we went to collect the team from Beth Iba, but following our request the commander of the checkpoint contacted us some time later to inform us that he had finally been given his papers and had left.To conclude: the behaviour of the checkpoint commander and the soldiers from that batallion is worth mentioning (on other occasion the soldiers from this battalion behaved well). They listended to our requests, clarified their acts and on the whole behaved quietly and with dignity. It was clear that our observation was important to them. They asked about our organization, how we enlist the women, and in general we had a good and important dialogue with them (so as not to make this report too long I shall not quote their opinion about the behaviour of the settlers in the vicinity).One of the soldiers said, in the course of the conversation: It is alright that you worry about the rights of the Palestinians, perhaps you could also worry about us, our rights are often violated in the army. In our answer we expressed empathy, but reminded the soldier that he could turn to the people who are in charge of his rights in the army and out of it, while the Palestinians have no means to do that when their human rights are violated by our army. The army is not really geared for this, and when there is a slight improvement in their behaviour towards the Palestinian civilians, this is very much due to the accumulated influence of our activity, our presence at the checkpoint and on the roads and the democratic use we make of the media.