Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Wed 19.3.08, Afternoon

Natanya translating.

14.00 Checkpint on road 5. Many police and  a special unit.

At the crossroads of Za'tara/Tapuach are 17 cars waiting to enter Nablus.
 

14.30 Huwwara.
When we arrived we saw that the detainees' cell had been covered, the door was closed and a yellow piece of cardboard covered the window  but there was no one inside. 3 checking areas were working and though it was a bit crowded people went through. One man said that when we are there things go well but other wise the soldiers make problems. Karin checked that there was a wait of 13 minutes. 
At the entrance to Nablus are 9 cars.
At the exit a taxi is checked by the dog with some soldiers standing around while the passengers wait at a distance. We could not see how many cars there were and the checking was very careful. One of the drivers said he had waited an hour and a half. A captain said that there had been a reason for the delay but now it had passed and everyone would go through quickly.
A soldier came up to Palestinians who were waiting for other people and told them to move off with his weapon pointed at them and after that he came over the fence and chased them further away. Nadim also saw soldiers taking someone out of the line even before he had been checked and he was handcuffed and blindfolded, taken to a jeep which drove off.

16.00 Checkpoint of Beit Furik.  A driver who had tried to take 12 Palestinians through and had driven on a forbidden road was detained and sat in his car while the other 12 were also detained. The driver of another car tried to speak to Karin told her to go back to her friend...me.

6 cars at the exit but the pedestrian line passes quickly.  At 16.40 Heiman arrives from the DCO and tells Nadim that the police will take the driver who went on the forbidden road and that his passengers would be detained and eventually released.