'Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Mon 15.6.09, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
13:43 Shomron checkpoint. Traffic flows freely westward without stopping, but a truck stands off to the side. A police patrol car at the checkpoint.
13:56 The industrial zone keeps expanding, reaching down almost to Route 5.
14:08 The area below Tapuach that has been cleared of stones is also expanding, almost to the border of the olive grove below it.
14:10 Za’tara.
The inspection booths for traffic from the west aren’t manned. From the north – 10 cars, one booth, and also an armed policeman standing next to it.
14:15 Huwwara.
3 inspection booths, including the humanitarian one.
The x-ray machine is near the humanitarian booth. A DCO representative (I[sam]?) is there.
About 20 people on the line for pedestrians at this time.
Over the loudspeaker we hear, “Move them the hell back!”
14:30 Two inspection booths for cars, and more than 20 vehicles waiting. It wasn’t possible to see the end of the line.
In general, most of the time we were observing the line of cars the soldiers, including the commander and the DCO representative, were busy trying to catch two settler youths who went through the checkpoint into Nablus. They were “handcuffed” with masking tape, and held until a police car came about 3 PM.
14:46 The number of cars on line is now down to about 12. We tried to time how long it takes a car to go through once it gets on line. We left at 3, and the car had moved very little.
15:05 Beit Furik.
There’s no sign of the covered structure where people on foot were inspected, but the checkpoint is still standing and fully supervising the movement of people to and from Nablus. There’s an inspection booth in the middle of the road, manned by soldiers. Four cars are currently waiting at the exit from Nablus, drivers are asked to open the trunk, and if there are belongings on the back seat, they are also asked to open the back door.
Cars entering the city go through without inspection, but they have to stop before the checkpoint, and go through “in turn.”
15:13 We left
15:15 Awarta. 5 cars on line from Nablus.
15:23 North Za’tara. Two cars. The policeman is no longer there.
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