'Awarta, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Mon 4.5.09, Morning

Translator:  Charles K.

Marda and Kifl Khars - open.

Zeita - closed.

Opposite the entrance to Beita - a jeep, but no vehicles are detained.  When we return, the jeep is gone.

Za'tara - 7:40   One vehicle from the west.  18 cars from the direction of Nablus, two inspection lanes open.

Huwwara - 7:45 - 9:25. 
33 cars on line from Nablus.  Two inspection lanes open (even though there are three inspectors on site).  We timed 16 cars going through in 10 minutes, so it should take a little more than 20 minutes for all of them to go through.

7:55  An Israeli vehicle belonging to Doctors Without Borders isn't allowed in, because the driver is Israeli and there's no physician in the vehicle - that's what the soldiers explained to us.  The driver says they have a permanent clinic in Nablus, and he goes in and out all the time.  We asked for the DCO representative.  They said he's at the other checkpoint.  We telephoned Abu Rukun and Zaharan from the Nablus DCO, but they were unavailable.  We spoke with the "humanitarian" office.  The DCO representative, S. showed up 15 minutes later and took care of it over the phone.

8:05  14 vehicles on line.

8:27  Pedestrian checkpoint.  10 men on line.  We timed their wait - 10 minutes.

8:35  A taxi driver who came near in search of riders was sent to the detention pen.

9:07  10 cars on line coming from Nablus.  The taxi driver is still in the pen.

9:20  We timed a car waiting 10 minutes.  14 cars on line.

One of the few peddlers in the parking lot complains that yesterday Border Police soldiers upended his stand.  We spoke with Abu Rukun, who said it wasn't true.  They evicted him from the lot, but not violently.  Whatever the case, this war of attrition continues, and the need to make a living is strong despite the daily harassment of the peddlers.

One man who was caught in Israel without a permit, was in jail for 40 days and got a two-year suspended sentence, asks whether he can have the suspended sentence cancelled and obtain a permit to work in Israel.

Another person, who worked for a number of years in the Barkan industrial zone, and whose permit was cancelled because his nephew was imprisoned for security reasons, also asks whether there's any chance he could go back to work in Barkan.  We referred both of them to someone who knows about these things, for advice.

Awarta - 9:30. 
3 cars on line.  No detainees.  A soldier comes over to find out who we are, and when we tell him he says, "You're good people."