morning

Huwwara Checkpoint, Beit Furik checkpoint, Saturday morning, December 20, 2003 Observers: DA, VG, NL, RP, GK, HBGeneral: at both checkpoints, matters proceeded reasonably. We didn’t have to use the phone even once, and were able to leave after one hour.Beit Furik: We arrived around 08:00. A line of 80 people. The crossing took around 20 minutes. We gave one detainee a Moked card. At first, the commander’s attitude was quite hostile– he had heard rumours that the material we publish on the website endangers the soldiers. R. explained our approach, what we do and how we document what we see at the checkpoints.Huwwara: we split into north and south. None of us saw anything exceptional. The commander of the southern checkpoint was a reserves soldier, who said he was a medic with Magen David Adom. His attitude was appropriate and fair toward both the people passing through and toward us. The other soldiers followed his example. For the first time, we heard a Palestinian being addressed as “Sir”! and the word “please” was also uttered more than once.One man was writhing in pain, but the soldiers decided he was “malingering”. With the help of V. - whose authority as a physician was instrumental - we managed to get him into an ambulance en route to Nablus.On our way to Jerusalem, we stopped at a grocery in Huwwara to do some shopping. The owner told us that the upper floor of his house (which is still under construction) had been commandeered by an (army) position. He claimed that the soldiers forbid him to enter the upper floor of house above the shop - the only completed floor that’s fit for living in - and they also force him to close the shop at 17:00. We went up to the position, and had two conversations with the officer in charge, a second-lieutenant. He maintained that no one is disturbing the residents – and our impression (gained, naturally, during a short visit) was that it is in fact possible to enter the store-owner’s home without difficulty (which doesn’t cancel out the terrible feeling entailed with having “neighbours” like these) We made a point of asking the officer whether his soldiers are relieving themselves “above the heads” of the family living downstairs, as well as other issues we’ve encountered in previous descriptions. The answer we got was ostensibly satisfying – but we’re still concerned about these issues. Shutting up shop early is part of the fact that it’s winter now, and cold and dark outside - and in view of the massive presence of the army in the area, people tend to stay home. To be on the safe side, we left the shop-owner a phone number to call. It’s advisable to pay a few more visits there.