Beit Furik, Huwwara North

BEIT FURIK, HUWWARA NORTH , Saturday 27 November 2004 AMObservers: Naomi R., Nina M. (reporting) colour=red>Beit Furik There was very smooth passage for those permitted to go through. Women of all ages passed even without permits. Passage for 16-30 year-olds was permitted only for those with special permits.We talked to a young man from Beit Furik who told us how he had tried to obtain a passage permit at the Huwwara 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] . First, a relative had brought him a form from the Palestinian DCO confirming that he needed to go to Huwwara to obtain a permit to go through the Beit Furik checkpoint. The form turned out to be useless and he was not allowed to enter Nablus. He'd then decided to take a risk, sidestepped the checkpoint and reached Huwwara via Nablus. At Huwwara checkpoint he had been detained for three hours. In the end he'd succeeded in reaching the Huwwara DCO where he discovered that he would never receive the permit he wanted (because he has been barred from doing so by the General Security Services).Huwwara NorthWe reached the checkpoint after a hostile exchange with the soldiers at the checkpoint as a result of which our group left and moved to the Huwwara South checkpoint. Three soldiers were checking ID cards . The x-ray machine which checks the content of parcels and bags was not there and the two checkers – one male one female – were incredibly rude. After hearing several of their comments, we talked to the commander and he put a stop to it. The soldiers gave us some dirty looks, but took their revenge on the Palestinians, ordering them to empty out their belongings on the ground.