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Jan-3-2004
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Beit Furik & Hawara, Saturday January 3rd, 2004 AMWatchers: Hava H, Dafna E, Gili G, Hanna B General: The whole area is under strict closer for the last two weeks. The Casba of Nablus is under curfew. Palestinian movement through the two CP is more or less non-existent. The Red Cross person we meet at the CP told us that there is enough food and water for the besieged inhabitants, but that other needs are only dealt with in extreme cases. Beit Furik : 9 detained men and 3 women. No one else at the CP. The soldiers were cordial but non-giving. They stood their ground that the detaineesinfo-icon will have to sit there for 4 hours and be punished for trying to circumvent the CP. “Did we know that 23 terrorists came out of Beit Furiq and that Arafat was borne there?” Soon we felt that leaving will give the Palestinians a better chance. A serious manhunt goes on in the area. The soldiers did no like our calling it a Deer-Hunt. Huwara : The southern CP was not manned. Both South and North were checked at the North. Very few people at both ends. People who live in the villages around Nablus are encouraged to leave the city, but passage to Ramalla is denied. Entrance into the city is only for Humanitarian cases – and even those are limited. The Soldiers were mostly well behaved, but the commander was rude and very hostile. As there were not enough soldiers posted at the CP and checking was very slow we called the DCO. An officer arrived pretty soon and things started moving at a much quicker pace. We could give limited help to a few cases. At some point the regimental commander suddenly appeared. He seemed very friendly towards his soldiers. We decided to go up to him for a conversation. He, of course, knew exactly who we are, and was attentive. We mentioned the fact that we have very little contact with the local different authorities and could we get some phone numbers that work on Shabbat and could be of help. That was “one to many”. We do not often meet high officers in Hawara on Shabbat. Just before we intended to walk back to the car a sudden commotion started. The soldiers started running towards two lorries that came from the direction of Alon More on the Settlers road. Nothing happened and the two lorries were let go. We spoke to one of the drivers and learned that he tried to deliver medical goods to Nablus for the last week and a half to no avail. Since on Shabbat there are very few other addresses available we gave him a MOKED card and asked him to let us know about the out-come. The soldiers left the house in Huwara village, which we mentioned two weeks ago.