Huwwara North

HUWWARA NORTH, Thursday 2 December 2004 PMObservers: Sara T., Galit G. (reporting) colour=red>14.00 – When we arrived, there was no pressure at the checkpoint. Seven people had been detained, five of whom were released very quickly. [Detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. The detainees' ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. The soldiers were not polite, but they were efficient, and the lines never got too long at any time during the watch.Untoward events: The soldiers brought some study materials (two textbooks and a notebook) over to the detainees' compound. They belonged to Y. , a physics student at an-Najah University [Nablus] who lives in the village of Beita. What was the material doing in the "pen" ? One of the detainees told us that Y. had gone through the checkpoint a while ago and had been stopped by the soldiers (those on an earlier shift); they had given him a note saying he must report to the District Coordinating Office (DCO) [the army section that handles civilian matters; it generally has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians] on Friday. As he walked away, he'd torn up the note and thrown it away; in retaliation, the soldiers had taken away his books. The soldiers wouldn't offer any other explanation and refused our request that they give the books to one of the residents of the village, so that he could return them to their owner. At 16.00, the DCO officer arrived and took the books, promising to make sure they reached their destination.15.25 – An outrageous episode: One of the detainees, H., was arrested and put into the "cage". Sara wanted to find out his name and ID number in order to try and help him. A second lieutenant crowded her, followed her and eavesdropped on her conversations. The Centre for the Defence of the Individual told us that they could do nothing and suggested we try the army's own "humanitarian" hotline where we were told they would look into the matter and try to help.15.30 – The man under arrest and in the "cage" was placed in handcuffs. At this point a German television crew arrived.The officer asked Sara to stand back and not talk to the man under arrest. Sara insisted on knowing why ; after all, this was why she was at the checkpoint. The officer replied: "You are preventing a security officer from carrying out his job." Sara refused to move away and continued to make telephone calls. The officer told her, "I know your name, Sara, and I know your telephone number. If you don't move away, I'll call the police."We phoned R. at the DCO and Sara protested to him about the threats and the attempts to prevent her from carrying out her job. R. agreed. The officer moved away.15.50 - An army vehicle arrived, and two soldiers got out: one of them picked up a filthy plastic bag lying on the ground. The arrested man was taken out of the "cage", and the soldier tried to tie the bag over his eyes. "Not here, do it in the car," the officer told him.And, of course, there were the "regular" events: the detainees' stories, those returning home after a week at the university; two residents of Ar-Ram, who'd arrived this morning to attend their grandmother's funeral but had been detained on their way home. They told us that the soldier had been extremely rude to them. A woman with a tiny infant was sent back because she did not have the proper document. And so on.We tried to help, made telephone calls, checked into matters. It's hard to know how much we actually succeeded. 17.10 – We left the checkpoint.