Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Tue 3.2.09, Afternoon
Natanya translating
14.30 Za'tara.
10 cars from the east west and only a few from the north south.
On the way back 7 cars from the latter.
Beit Furik.
The checkpoint is open and cars are checked randomly.
Huwwara
When we arrived we were asked by a soldier and the commander to leave the place where we were and from where we could see what was happening and could speak to the Palestinians. They showed us a printed sign hanging on the entrance saying that all the area next to the turnstiles and the lane leading to them was a sterile area and this was signed by the brigade commander Itzik Bar.
We refused to leave and were photographed several times by the soldiers and asked to give our details.
This of course we refused to do. After about an hour a blue policeman with a big black knitted kippa arrived. He told us that it was a closed army area and that we were forbidden to be there and we obeyed and left.
We stood next to the turnstile at the entrance to Nablus and saw how the soldiers chased away the taxi drivers waiting at the entrance and when we asked a soldier why this was forbidden one of the men shouted, "We are forbidden to speak, to stand or to breathe. Everything is forbidden to us."
The car lane. Cars leaving Nablus checked thoroughly and about 20 cars in line. Cars entering not checked.