Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sun 23.8.09, Afternoon
Translation: Tal H.
Tapuach-Za'tara Junction Checkpoint 14:53
Traffic flows, no waiting lines in any direction.
On every concrete slab around, posters announcing in grim large black letters:
“The war is against the Arabs”.
Beit Furik Checkpoint 15:15
Traffic flows in and out of Nablus.
Unlike our recent vigils here, the soldiers saw us at our usual spot, looked and looked and began to walk in our direction but made a u-turn and stayed away.
Huwwara Checkpoint 15:45
Several Israeli-license-plated cars parked in the former taxi-park.
A single checking post active for cars exiting Nablus, as for entering.
One in every eight to fourteen cars is stopped by the soldiers for a peek inside and an occasional look at an ID, which causes a short bottling-up.
Canine inspection conducted only on cars bearing young male passengers, and not often. Such inspection lasts around ten minutes, sometimes a bit less. It is thorough, including trunk, inside of car, around the outside, and rummaging and salivating over personal effects (including what from afar appeared to be food packed in plastic bags, an inspection that infuriated the owner and driver to the extent that, when passing us by, he yelled “They should be brought to trial!!!”).
After our standing there for a few minutes, the checks on either direction (entry and exit) slowed down considerably and suddenly waiting lines of over fifteen cars in each direction were formed, although no special detention or inspections were witnessed. We had the strong impression that this was solely due to the soldiers’ possible boredom or annoyance at our presence, monitoring them. Since the situation persisted, we called the army hotline. After a few minutes, procedures were back to their former states and traffic flowed.
At 17:00 we got on our way back to Israel.