'Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sun 11.1.09, Morning
Translation: Hanna K.
07:40 Za'tara:
From the west: An ambulance and behind it a car.
From the north:a bus is parked in the parking lot, its passengers waiting next to it. There are two cars at the CP.
07:45 Next to the road to Yitzhar there is a military jeep with soldiers in it,
07:55 Beit Furik:
The CP and the whole surroundings are deserted only the soldiers are there .
Two soldiers with drawn weapons march towards us, but we didn't wait for them
Before we leave a taxi arrives from Nablus - it is not checked, and a station wagon arrives for Nablus - it too is not checked.
08:00 Awarta:
A car is being checked. A soldier searches in the pages that are strewn on the counter next to him, probably to search for the names of the passengers, but a minute or two later he releases it. Another vehicle: the soldiers makes a call, seemingly in connection with the vehicle or its passenger, but lets it pass a short time later. About 15 vehicles: trucks and cars are waiting in line.
08:15 Huwwara:
We pass through the parking lot. A man who speaks Hebrew welcomes us with a reproach: this is how you kill our children! You only make more and more people of Gazza support the Hamas.
There are about 40 people at the CP.
A soldier comes to us, it seems he finds it necessary to talk to us. He tells us that a good friend of his mother is member of Machsom Watch. His mother isn't but she identifies herself with us. He had no time to tell us what his own stand is because he was called to the commander.
H. the DCO representative arrives and draws our attention to a page stuck on the checking cell where it says that this is a military zone, a sterile
area and that we are not allowed to stand there. The CP commander lieutenant Y. joins him and asks us to leave the place. After a futile discussion we go down and stand next to the turnstile at the entrance to Nablus. From there it is possible to see part of what is going on at the CP and to hear from time to time the screams of the military policewomen who, when checking, demands that shirts be lifted and other screams the meaning of which we were not able to identify.
08:30 A young man comes to us and tells us that he and six other people are tradesmen, that they have an authorization to enter Israel, but that they were detained near the CP of Beit Iksa, and the authorization were taken from them, claiming that they by-passed the CP. Hanna B. with whom we consulted, took upon herself to take care of the matter.
A volunteer of the Internationals tells us that at 08:50 she counted 50 vehicles leaving Nablus, the waiting time was 45 minutes.
09:25 In the queue for vehicles leaving Nablus there are 20 cars. There are 2 checking stations. The checking is thorough, about 2-3 minutes per car.
The entrance for vehicles to Nablus is free. There are drivers who are not aware of this, and they are waiting. The soldiers do not always hasten to signal to them that they are allowed to pass.
The commander asks me to go away from the car checking station. A conversation ensues, he does not accept my position regarding the occupation but expresses his understanding that there may be a different opinion than his.
09:40 The commander turns to me: at the CP a cheque on 3000 IS of a Palestinians was found. On the cheque there is only the name of the person who signed it without other details. He asks us to tell this to the people at the parking lot so that they might try to locate him and to tell him to come and collect the chque.
The people we turned to don't know him, but promised to find out.
09:50 We left the CP.
10:20
The Hannukia at the Za'tara junction is still there and raises a question: who, and on whose authority put this Hannukia in an area that is Palestinian.
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