Huwwara North & South

Huwwara North and South, Sunday 20.02.05, PMObservers: Yehudit, Noa (reporting)We arrived at 13:30 at the southern checkpoint, and there were practically no people and no detainees.A group of young settlers were having a friendly conversation with the soldiers. We didn't harry but went along to the north.In the northern checkpoint, there was light traffic. 3 young detainees who were released in a short time. A., the commander, and A., the DCO representative, welcome us.An additional detainee says that he was on his way home from the Damon Prison, where he had been imprisoned for 4 months because he was looking for work and worked in Jaffa, without a permit; he was caught right away. He is the oldest in the family, his father has cancer. He himself recently married and there isn't a penny in the house. He trusts in god (there isn't any other choice).14:30 – We saw A., the checkpoint commander, put A. (a youth of 15 who looks and behaves like 12) into the detention shed. It seems that A. is a regular at the checkpoint, and trieds every once in a while to work at carrying suitcases. However, by every criterion of the checkpoint, he is forbidden. Every new head of a shift tries to deal with A., including the present one. After a number of warnings, he decides to call the police. We tried to persuade him to let him go, and we explained that the police really have nothing to do with such cases. We called the citizens' rights hotline, and they said that this falls under the jurisdiction of the commander, and that we should just watch and record every detail if the police does arrive. In the end, the police didn't come. A. stayed in the detention shed until 17:30. Everyone knows A., and many asked about what happened to him and tried to help. At 17:30 we left, while the one responsible for the checkpoint promised us that he would release A. and make sure he got home.16:20 – Two sisters with Jordanian passports; one of their passports had expired and they didn't let her through. (She works in Nablus and lives in Huwwara). A., from the DCO, intervened and let her through. Apparently this is a long story without any solution. There are thousands of Palestinians with foreign passports which have expired, who can't get permits from Israel, and they are left to the mercy of the soldiers at the checkpoint. They wait for them to "wear out" and go back to Jordan to renew their passports, and then they won't be permitted to return.17:30 – We are at the southern checkpoint. A group of about 20 Italians from a peace organization are waiting for permission to enter Nablus. They came without any permits. They have no idea what is going on. The soldiers try to get a quick permit, but time passes and the Italians decide to go back to Jerusalem. At this opportunity, they became acquainted with MachsomWatch and asked to stay in touch. We exchanged addresses.