Morning

Upon arrival at 9 a.m. we found a crowd of about 150 people desperately trying to find their way in the overall chaos and cross over to Nablus. The soldiers greeted us with hostility and wanted to declare the area a closed military zone but eventually calmed down. Present was also an officer of the DCO, Yaakob, who knew about MW and was not very happy to have us there. But within 45 minutes, we were helping women and children pass, as well as older men and many humanitarian cases, such as women in labor, handicapped people and sick children. One of the soldiers, Avi, was extremely aggressive and hostile, pointing his gun at the waiting people, shouting and cursing, but occasionally also yielding to our requests. Twice we witnessed Avi throwing ID cards across the fence and the owners had to climb over the fence for them. He said that the people were getting on his nerves with their demands and with their non-acceptance of his decisions not to let them pass, and that to throw an ID on the ground is not the same as tearing it up! Ambulances were allowed to pass, and were checked fast. Only those with permits were allowed through. The overall atmosphere was aggressive, violent and rude ("piss off", "get lost", "get out of my eyes", pointing guns...) Men between 14 and 40 years old are not allowed into Nablus at all. They cannot use the administrative and health services of the town, visit their sick relatives, attend University lectures and exams nor, of course, go to work. One needs a permit even to get a suddenly sick child to the clinic. A child which is to be taken to the doctor is actually expected to go alone. A woman about to give birth cannot be accompanied by her husband. An old woman cannot be supported by her son. In those cases the personal judgement of the soldiers and the DCO officers should be used. But the officers are usually not around and the soldiers very often are not able to judge the gravity of a situation or just do not want to do so.