Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), יום ג' 20.1.09, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'atra/Tapuach Junction
7:40 a.m.
There are about 30 cars from the west and about 18 cars from the north.
Beit Furiq
7:50 a.m.
There are soldiers at the roadblock but it is open to traffic from both directions.
Huwwara
8:00 a.m.
There are two inspection lanes and a humanitarian crossing open. When we arrived there were about 40 - 50 people in the queues. After about half an hour the queue had reduced considerably.
Ingoing cars to Nablus are not stopped for inspection. At the exit from Nablus there is a queue of about 10 cars.
A disabled person in a wheelchair arrives at the disabled crossing (in the direction of Nablus). He and those accompanying him wait a few minutes for the gate to be opened. There is no soldier in situ who can see what is going on, so only after we called the soldiers to tell them did a soldier come to open the gate. (The whole thing only took a few minutes but without our intervention it would have undoubtedly taken much longer.) (Photos attached.)
Nurit points out to a soldier (a 1st sergeant in the military police) that the exit is inaccessible for wheelchair users since it is barred by concrete blocks. If they are moved just a bit a wheelchairs will be able to pass through. The 1st sergeant listens and shows interest. He says that it is not within his area of responsibility but, with a little further encouragement, agrees to pass the request on. Later the DCO representative comes over to us and we repeat our request.
8:30 a.m.
A youngster is sent to the 'waiting shed'. He spends about a quarter of an hour there.
8:40 a.m.
Someone comes to complain that soldiers sprayed gas on goods in the market. We go over to see. The owner of a small sweet stall shows us signs of an unidentifiable substance, with no smell, on the waffles and on the stall. We reported it to the roadblock commander and he promised to check the matter out. We left the complainant a telephone number - in case it should happen again. The stallholders complained about the fact that in the car park and near the roadblock there is no drinking water available.