Huwwara

HUWWARA , Monday 29 November 2004 AM Observers: Deganit I., Micky F., Ofra K., Yudit A.-D. (reporting) colour=red> 08:30 – Huwwara South One hundred women, babies and small children were crammed into the sleeve leading to the checkpoint , blue from cold. Two women, a baby and a small child were trapped in the turnstile [these are not simple turnstiles such as one finds in a subway station, but high , revolving gates made of steel bars: each segment is barely large enough to admit one average-sized person; there is virtually no room to spare for anything that person may be carrying , whether a child or a parcel; passage for pregnant women or for the elderly is extremely difficult and frightening]. There were only a few men in the men’s line. But there were already some 10 detainees, who'd been held there from between one and two hours. [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 situation in the women’s line was intolerable. We approached the commander, the representative of 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] , and R., the local DCO commander , begging for a little humanity.08:40 –An Israeli TV cameraman arrived and focused on the women, and I too photographed the turnstile 08:45 – The checkpoint commander decided to release the line and allowed the women to go around , rather than through , the turnstile and sleeve areas.09:15 – Ten border policemen arrived and deployed all over the taxi area, detaining all men under the age of 30. We asked why they were detaining people who had already been checked, and they said they did their job without reference to the checkpoint.Thirty young men stood in a line across the width of the taxi area facing three border policemen with drawn rifles. Two others checked documents, the rest were busy catching more young men , and harassing taxi drivers. One of those held was a student on his way to university, detained for the fourth time since leaving home this morning.The photographer left and the women were immediately sent back to make their way through the sleeve. After we interceded, women with babies were permitted to go round. We were given the task of informing them of this.10:00 –Checking was slow, the border police detainees were still standing as if on parade. After 15 minutes, eight were left.10:30 - A DCO representative arrived. Four of the border police's detainees were allowed to go on their way, the remaining four were barred. Then the border policemen left. We interceded with the DCO representative on behalf of a young man with a referral to hospital in Nablus. He went to the DCO, as ordered by the checkpoint commander, only to be told that their computer had crashed. When we left at 12:30 he was still there. Later we learned that he had gone through.A Palestinian woman with US citizenship who had arrived on a visit to her parents in Nablus was surprised by the illogical regulations when we explained to her that she had to fax an application, attaching photocopies of documents, plus a letter specifying the reason for her visit etc. The permit will probably arrive after one to three weeks.