Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 4.9.08, Afternoon
Natanya translating.
Ramadan. The clock has been put back an hour by the Palestinian Authority and the fast ends at 181.0
13.30 (Israel time). Sha'ar Shomron.
No checkpoint at the entrance to the occupied territories and we saw no workers who had been detained. Workers walking along the road in the heat of the day after they had fasted the entire day.
Two entrances to Marda are open. The gate at the entrance to Zeita is closed with cement blocks and cars and people cannot go through.
At Za'tara
A taxi is freed as we arrive. There are not lines. 4 detainees
who stand with barbed wire around them and a soldier with his weapon pointed at them.
When Daphna speaks to the commander (Tamir) about this he tells the soldier not to point it directly at the detainees.
Three young men were detained as they had been driving an Israeli car without a licence.
The 4th man is bingo....he says this always happens to him and he is kept for 1-2 hours and then freed.
The GSS does not bother to correct its lists. The commander says that as soon as he gets a reply he will free him. Daphne phones the humanitarian centre. We took his phone number and at 14.30 he phoned to say that he had been freed after having been detained since 13.00.
No checkpoint at Burin/Yitzhar.
14.30 Huwwara
There are 3 checking posts and a humanitarian line. No dog trainer.
Tomer of the DCO says that so it will be during the month of Ramadan. People strip themselves of various objects and the soldiers search the parcels of foodstuffs with their hands.
2 young men who delay so as to put their belts on are send away with shouts by the soldier.
The line of pedestrians reaches to the end of the shed and a young man says that he waited 30 minutes. Every few minutes we hear the squeaking and the shout to come forward. One of the men has to empty underpants from a bag. People arriving with a bag are sent to the x-ray device and from there they come back to get their IDs.
It is very hard to see from where we are allowed to stand but Daphna manages to count 10 cars in the lane. The passengers get out and the men have to raise their shirts.
At 15.40 we left.
On the Madison road we counted 14 cars at the exit of Nablus including a bus and a van.
On the right we see the new road to Awarta.
15.50 Beit Furik.
One car lane for cars in both directions. 3 cars in the direction of Nablus. Daphna goes to check the line of those coming from Nablus (13) and a soldier tells the other to close the checkpoint and says that they will only open when we "fuck off."
We move back a little and they continue the checking. When a man comes forward without being called he is sent back and not allowed through for another 5 minutes as a lesson. A soldier stops a car at the entrance to Nablus. "Are you sick? All the time people who are sick pass here."
At 16.15 another post is opened for cars entering Nablus.
We left at 16.20.
At Za'tara are about 7 cars and two checking areas are open.
At Zeia the gate is open but only to pedestrians. At the side was a mound of earth which taxis manage to pass but a driver says that in the morning it had been higher.
16.45 At Haris the road is blocked because of an accident.
.