Hizme, Atara

Hizma, Atara, Thursday morning, 14.9.2006 Observers: Netta E., Tamar A. (reporting), Natanya translating6.30 – 9.15Checkpoint Hizme On the security road two minibuses have been detained and all the passengers taken off. 8.20 - On the road which goes up to road 465 to the checkpoint were about 20 cars and the inspection took between 5-30 minutes even though it was relatively fast. On the road to the village of Atara was a line along the entire bridge. At 7.30 the soldiers decided to release the line from the bottom and within 2 minutes 20 cars passed without being checked. The road was empty …, but soon it filled up again. This long line of which we counted 13 cars (though there were a number we could not count) the soldiers ignored and the next check from the bottom was done even more slowly and sometimes stopped completely. Because of the line on the bridge which is not wide enough for two cars another line started from the araa of Bir Zeit…all those wishing to get to the village of Atara . In the end the soldiers started to check here too.Slowly cars were freed both from the bridge and underneath. 6 minibuses and transits were detained on the side for ids to be checked about 5 minutes each. At 8.09, maybe because by then we had turned to the humanitarian centre the line on the bridge was freed and the checking down below also speeded up. But after a short while new lines built up and it is logical to suppose that this is the way the checkpoint continued to function. Now and again the pressure was freed and no checking done, and afterwards the slow inspection started up again so that new lines could be formed. Between 7.40 to 8.20 about 145 cars passed in the direction of Bir Zeit and 85 on the bottom road and about 60 to the village of Atara . 8.53 Hizma checkpoint. Little traffic. No cars detained.