'Azzun 'Atma, Huwwara, Wed 21.4.10, Morning

Translator: Hanna K.

Azzun Atma

06:00 – an enormous queues with a single checking post.
The CP was opened at 05:45 and there are over 100 persons in the queue, and also another 10 workmen at the entrance.
In the past there was another gate at the other side of the village. That gate has been closed. All the load is now on one gate and the checking post has not been changed.
Each person is checked for 2-3 minutes. Such a queue will end only in about three hours.
The soldiers at the CP claim that they have no authority, this is in the hands of the Military Police which alone is responsible for the checking. The soldiers' task is to maintain law and order.
We informed the DCO Efraim, and after clarification they returned to us with the claim that all the checking posts are active.
Some time later another post began functioning from the same wicket, but this too was only a drop in the sea of this long queue.
Workmen who returned from night shift waited almost an hour until they were let in.
And who are those? They are the inhabitants of the village who work every day at a factory near the settlement of Oranit, and wish to return to the village.
On the other hand, at the exit, near the gate, there are about 20 workmen who leave every day for work at the same factory. According to them they usually pass through the gate and not through the checking post, and are quickly checked. This time the soldiers let them wait interminably.
In the meantime the overseers of the factory, who couldn't understand why the workmen didn't arrive as usual, appeared. They tried to call their connections. We demanded from the DCO that he send a representative to speed matters up.
We left with heavy feeling. When we returned 20 minutes later the workmen had left and the queue had become shorter.

Huwwara 08:30 – The traffic flows without checking.

On our way back we passed the Za'tara CP and counted 40 cars. The queue was created by the mere short stop of each car.

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