'Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Sha`ar Shomron (Qasem), Za'tara (Tapuah), Tue 25.11.08, Morning
Tranaslation: Ruth F.
It has been a month since we had last been on a shift. The pace in which they perform they are completing the constructions is shocking. Why do they throw all this money away on four lane roads and new squares, like the one at the entrance to Ariel, or the new terminal that was built at Huwwara checkpoint? There is no one who will bother to ask for what reason they toss that money away.
Our rage only grew as this was a slow day with very few Palestinians passing through out the day.
The entrance from Sha'ar Shomron was wide open, it was also free on the exit to Israel.
The entrance to Marda was open. There was a pile of dirt at the entrance to Zeita, but no one was waiting to enter.
7:35- Za'tara Junction (Tapouah)
There were no cars waiting for the direction of road number 5. Three vehicles were waiting from Nablus.
At the parking lot the passengers of a bus were waiting for the inspections to be over.
7:50 Beit Furik checkpoint
From time to time a vehicle arrived and immediately passed, as usual everyone but the driver had to get out of the car and pass through the turnstiles. There were quite a lot of pedestrians, most of them were students.
The owner of the coffee house said it was a calm morning, and that earlier there was much more traffic as people were heading into Nablus.
8:40- Awrata- apart for an ambulance that passed right through from Nablus, no one was there.
8:50-Huwwara checkpoint
It was quiet and calm since the soldiers were not yelling and there weren't many people at the checkpoint. There were about 20 Palestinians through out our shift. From time to time there was a vehicle waiting to exit or enter Nablus. They passed after an inspection of their parcels.
Pedestrians- There were three inspection posts, two were regular and one was a quick lane. All the men passed while holding their belts in their hands. One of them was angry that the soldiers told them to "undress".
Inside one of the vehicles entering Nablus (it had local plats) was a sticker on the frontal window saying "Thanking the IDF for eternity". The soldiers also didn't understand what it was all about.
A woman came to us asking if we could help her to get a permit to visit her daughter that was at Damon prison. The daughter was sentenced to 15 years in prison and she has been there since July 2006.
Up until now the mother had been permitted to see her only once (we will try to help).
The highlight of the shift was when one soldier who saw us talking to the residents who were asking us for help, came and reproached us. When we told him they were an occupied people who needed solutions for different problems he told us that there weren't under occupation and that we were on Israeli land.
We left the checkpoint in despair.
10:15 Za'aara Junction (Tapouah)
There were seven vehicles waiting to pass from Nablus. There were no vehicles waiting from road number 5.