Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Wed 14.5.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
14.25 Jamaiem-Zeita and Marda where nothing has changed and the entrance is still blocked with cement slabs and an iron gate.
At Za'tara there are 50 cars waiting to leave Nablus, private cars, taxis and trucks.
14.40 The village of Huwwara. There is a checkpoint at the entrance to the village in the direction of Nablus. One lane of the road has been blocked and 20 cars wait to leave Nablus.
Huwwara CP
Three checking posts and about 30 people in each line. The soldier in the middle is very vocal and one wonders what she is trying to prove. It seems the women are not less aggressive than the men.
Cars are checked in the usual way with the passengers alighting and the car itself checked over a long period. There is also a dog trainer for the cars and a taxi which has been checked for quite a while.
At about 15.05 the right checking post is closed and Karin says those in line wait 15-20 minutes.
A man comes through and says that he has iron in his shoes....the holes for the laces and he had to take them off.
Now at the exit from Nablus are two lines of cars which take about 10 minutes to check (each one). It seems taxis take longer than other cars to be checked.
T. of the DCO says that probably because of the closure
there are less people.
15.45 Beit Furik.
8 cars in either direction and few people. The police are also here. Two policemen and their car park on top of the checkpoint and they take the car of a man with whom there may be a problem. After a few minutes he is freed.
People coming through told us that there is a taxi near the checkpoint in the direction of Nablus and there is a problem. Karin goes towards the checkpoint to check out the problem and a soldier speaking in a disgusting manner says to her "Lady get away"
When she says that there is a problem with a taxi he replies "If the commander wants to he will come to you." When he did not come we began to go towards the man with the problem and the commander towards us. When we got closer the soldiers and the commander turned to us and we explained that there was someone who wanted our help. The commander said that if we would wait he would come to us in two minutes. We showed who the man was and asked what the problem was. The commander said that the man is not from the villages in the area and therefore he knew that he could not pass here and in the meantime he said that while he spoke to us he would not open the checkpoint. We realized that there was no way that we could help the man.
16.34 Huwwara.
Nava phoned and said that there was a mess at the checkpoint but when we got there we saw nothing. We asked people if there had been a problem and they said no. Only a few people passing today. We stood there a while and the soldiers sent the Palestinians standing near us away and also wanted to do the same with H., N'.s son who was our driver. When we said that he was with us they let him remain.
Za'tara 20 cars coming from Nablus and 13 from route 5.
כ- 20 רכבים מכיוון שכם ו-13 רכבים מכיוון כביש 5.