'Awarta, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sun 1.3.09, Morning
Translation: Hanna K.
A cold raing day.
07:20 Za'tara: There are no cars at the western CP. There are 2 cars at the northern one.
07:25 Beita:
A Border Police jeep is parked opposite the village. While we stayed at Beita 7 cars and trucks left the village and were not stopped.
It is not clear whether the vehicles are not checked as a result of instructions from IDF or whether the cold and the rain deter the soldiers from coming down and checking them.
07:45 Huwwara:
A new company - Givaty. We park at the edge of the vehicles- CP. The CP commander approaches us and demands that we vacate the area, it is a military zone. We are allowed only to park on the other side of the concrete barrier, but there there is no parking space. The weather forecast promised scattered rains, but during our entire shift we have rain. Violent showers pour down incessantly and it is cold, very cold.
We stand next to the turnstile for people entering Nablus. There is quite a lively movement of people entering Nablus, but there is no delay at the turnstiles. A soldier in the CP structure wonders about our presence on the spot. This is the first time he hears about MachsomWatch. He is a resident of Yitzhar, and doesn't, naturally, accept our opinions. He imparts a "very important information" which, to our great shame we were weren't aware of before that "the Palestinians themselves are interested in the existence of the CPs".
There are about fifty people leaving Nablus.
A young man we watched stayed about 35 minutes at the CP.
There is pouring rain, and the water are, naturally collected, at a low area, exactly where the people leaving Nablus are being checked. The cleaner tries to fight the water with all his force, with the aid of the short wiper he is holding, without much success, and the people who are checked are forced to use acrobatics so that the contents of their bags which they have to empty at the wicket won't glide into the water.
Our acquaintance the commander comes up to us and demands that we leave the area. We explain that this is the spot where we are allowed to stand, we do not enter the CP and we do not disturb anybody. Our arguments do not convince him and he summons the police.
08:50 The commander appears again and hands us a phone says that an officer from the Ariel Police wishes to talk to us. Yael explains the policeman the situation and he asks politely whether we are prepared to leave the place. Yael repeat that we are allowed to stand here and that we do not disturb anybody, a fact which the CP commander cannot deny. The commander left us defeated and we hear him saying on the phone to the police officer that it is not pleasant for him that we look at his soldiers (in fact he is right, we too find it unpleasant to watch the actions of the occupation).
09:00 There is a long queue of vehicles coming from Nablus and a queue of vehicles entering Nablus, a fact which we cannot understand - after all the checking of people entering Nablus was annulled. A private vehicle is checked, a process which was begun before we arrived and lasted until 7 minutes after we arrived. Another 11 cars joined the queue in the meantime. And then the soldiers had a genial idea, they diverted the car that was checked to the side, and enabled the other cars to enter Nablus without being checked. The said car was checked another 2-3 minutes and then went on it's way.
09:20 The rain and the cold made us flee the CP.
Awarta:
There are no cars. We even do not see soldiers. Perhaps they are hiding in the shed from the heavy rain.
Beita: there is no Border Police jeep on the spot.
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