Huwwara north & south

Huwwara North & South Sunday PM, 2.1.05Observers: - North: Naomi L. (reporting), MikiA permanent guest.- South: Noa P.(reporting), Chen - guest >Huwwara NorthThe checkpoint fence is again serving as a gigantic notice board, for the settlers, of course: "Sit-in Demonstration continues, 24 hours a day opposite the Knesset, starting from Monday, January 3." "Tour around the Walls (of the Old City of Jerusalem) on the Tenth of Tevet (a fast day), a torah study conference at Yeshivat Ha'Cotel."From far away, we see a display of flags blowing in the wind opposite the soldiers' position, the flags of the military unit and the flag of Israel, announcing that "we are here", as though there was anyone who didn't know yet.14:15 – about 100 peoples crowded behind the line of turnstiles (the first row was taken down last week, and the turnstiles which had been thrown on the side of the road have disappeared as though they never existed). The magnetic alarms toot all the time for no reason, every coin or key sets off a tooting which adds yet another face to this surrealistic place, especially since no one pays attention to it. About half of those being checked are women with little children and babies been carried in their arms, wrapped in blankets. The pouring rain takes no pity on them and they are soaked to the bone in their slow progress from the taxi stand in the north, to the south. In the sheds they also get soaked, since the strong wind blows the rain in from the sides. In the detention shed are 8 students from a-Najah University, who have been waiting for half an hour. Among them is a young man who works in the Shefa Hospital in Ramalla, but lives in Jenin. He got out of an ambulance in which he was riding to his place of work. For 3 hours he has been detained and will be released only after 4 1/2 hours since he is very "suspect" and he has "a special problem", so they are "checking" all the time and "this takes times". Meanwhile, he is freezing cold. All the benches have been taken from the position and there is nowhere to sit, if it were even possible, with the rain pouring in from all sides.14:40 – One of the detainees, shaking with cold, asks the soldiers what is happening in his case, and the soldier answers "Soyez, Soyez" (Slowly, slowly, in a bit). 5 soldiers are manning all the positions and the inspection goes quickly. Women who are required to open packages must bend down to the ground while a soldier watches from above. The checking table has been thrown aside a few meters from here and stands useless, in the rain.The main suspect from Ramallah is released after four and a half hours of waiting!The taxi drivers, because of the rain, got a special concession and they are allowed today to come up to the shed, so that their passengers won't get wet. This is on the condition that they "Don't make trouble." After people have passed the checking station and continue on to the taxis on the other side, they will be wet to the bone, no concessions here.15:27 – Our soldiers are busy playing cops and robbers. This story confirms that things happen at the checkpoint just because it is possible for them to happen, not because they are connected to security. The checkpoint commander, Y., stops a taxi driver who comes up to the shed and decides that the taxi is stolen. Why? "Because there was a mess yesterday and they caught two stolen taxis." He takes M. out of the car, while the keys are still inside and the motor is on, and doesn't allow him to park and turn off the car. Finally a volunteer is found to do this.M. is asked where his documents are and he understands that the question is about his car documents, so he says "They are in the car." Y. understands that he doesn't have an ID and now he is even more under suspicion and is sent to the detention shed. Once in a while he tries to leave the shed and speak to the officer, the taxi is his and he has no opposition to its being checked, but he is sent back to the shed with shouting, "Who allowed you to get out?" After an hour, he is taken in the mythical jeep for an inspection at Huwwara. After another hour, he is returned to the checkpoint, his hands tied behind him and blindfolded. We photograph him while a soldier is untying him, which angers the checkpoint commander very much. Later he asks us for our personal identification since "It is forbidden to photograph at the checkpoint, this is a military zone" but we refuse. It should be emphasized that the commander who was responsible for this chain of events and decision making was not one of the exciteable ones, everything was done in a relaxed way and even with politeness and a smile. It was hard for him to understand, or later to admit, that he used bad judgement (until the moment when we photgraphed the handcuffed youth). We asked what would happen to M., and one of the soldiers asked him if he had an ID. Within a minute, he took it from his pocket, and only then they took it to be checked at the GSS, and he had to wait "for as long as it would take." We turned to the DCO officer there and he refused to intervene in the commander's decision. We called Ra'ad and he promised to release the youth.18:00 – when we were on our way home, M. confirmed that he was on his way home in the bus, the "stolen" taxi was taken back by another driver who works with him.The taxi driver who had an accident 3 weeks ago, and his taxi was being repaired in Nablus, asked the checkpoint commander and later from the DCO representative to be allowed to take out his taxi, as he lives and works in Bidia. "You can't take a vehicle out of Nablus without a permit" the DC0 representative tells him. Then we find out that the DCO offices are closed for "repairs and improvement" and he has to go to the Palestinian office, present a request, and they will refer him to the Israeli DCO which will decide whether or not to give him a permit, and will send their decision to the Palestinian office which will pass it on to the taxi driver. "This will take 2 weeks," he says, "it is already 3 weeks that I am not working and I have nothing to bring home; if I had called a tow truck I wouldn't have had a problem, but the tow truck costs 300 NIS and I don't have it." The officer stood his ground and we gave him our phone number, in case we could help speed up the process during the week.Huwwara South14:15 10 detainees waiting for more than an hour, released.14:35 2 handcuffed people arrived who had gone around the checkpoint.14:50 A man arrived in a car with a handicapped passenger and asked to take him to the northern checkpoint, where he wanted to get a taxi to Nablus. The checkpoint commander stopped an ambulance which agreed to take the handicapped man to Nablus for free.15:10 the 2 handcuffed men were released, no detainees. A man arrived in a car without a permit and asked to go through with a sick child. They didn't allow him through with the car, but only on foot. For the car, he would have to get a special permit at the Palestinian office. During the conversation with the checkpoint commander, we found out that the DCO offices would be closed for the next 3 months.Ra'ad confirmed for us the following new policies:- because of the closure of the DCO offices, all the magnetic cards were automatically renewed for the next 3 months.- the expected renovations are intended to improve the granting of permits and shorten the time that each person has to wait, so that one could request and receive a permit on the same day.- during the renovations, the residents of Nablus would be referred to the Palestinian office in Nablus, their requests would then be transferred to the Israeli DCO and, after they were granted, they would receive them from the Palestinian office.- requests for a magnetic card would be received at the Palestinian office in Qalqilya.A vision of the world to come!