Habla, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sun 30.5.10, Morning
Habla: According to people standing at the checkpoint, it just now opened (it should have opened at 06:45). Many are waiting to leave Habla; we weren’t able to estimate their number.
07:03 The first group exits after inspection.
07:12 A second wave exits.
Later we timed how long it takes someone to go through – today it took about 2-3 minutes.
A Palestinian tells us that today the soldier (he means the officer) is ok. We noticed the checkpoint was quiet despite the large number of people waiting, the officer was active, comes over to speak to people now and then. And something I haven’t seen at the checkpoints before: soldiers having long conversations with Palestinians waiting for their turn to be inspected.
A young man is not allowed through. He speaks to the commander, requests, pleads. The officer explains the reason. Then we see the commander making a phone call, apparently to find out whether to let him through anyway, but it seems he didn’t receive authorization to do so. He returns to the man, speaks to him, but the man isn’t convinced and remains where he is. He asks us to come help him, but the commander doesn’t allow us into the checkpoint area; he comes over to us and explains that the man lost his ID card. The man waves to us with a picture, and we assume it’s a replacement document. We call the DCO, who’s aware of the case, and tells us that the document confirms the loss of the ID, not a replacement ID. They say he has to get a temporary ID from the Palestinian Authority.
Later another Palestinian gives us the man’s phone number, and we talk to him. He claims that he got that document from the Authority. We call the DCO again who tell us that he didn’t get the correct document from the Authority. We explain to the man he has to obtain a temporary ID; he left after being here about an hour, having failed in his attempts to overturn the sentence.
07:15 A school bus goes through the checkpoint without inspection or delays.
Five Palestinians sought our help while we were at the checkpoint: four the GSS refuses to allow through and one refused by the police. We’ll give their details to Silvia P. and Haya O. 08:05 A few people are still waiting at the checkpoint.
We left. 09:00 (approximately). Izbet Tabib: the bar across the road is open, no soldiers in the area.