Tapuach,za"atara, Huwwara, Beit Furik

Tapuach, Za'atara, Huwwara, Beit Furik, Wednesday 8.3.06 AMObservers: Nina S., Hanna A. (reporting)Translation: Hanna K.General: The occupation routine, of which Amir Costariza or Frederico Felini would certainly have been able to demonstrate the absurdity, bizzarreness and idiocy. "Segregation" for the inhabitants of Jenin, and the inhabitants of Tul Karem are checked meticulously. At Huwwara they are not allowed to leave Nablus in a sweeping manner.7:39 – at the entrance to Zeita there is a new iron arm, open (in the past there were mounds of earth, and later concrete barriers). On the way back we saw that also at the entrance to Marda such an arm ahs been installed. They want to block the entrance to the village by way of the road. Hop, the arm is easily moved and that's it! No passage.7:40 – Tapuach from the West. Two soldiers. 22 cars, waiting till the soldiers check a taxi whose driver wishes to go in the opposite direction. One person says: "soldier, we are waiting for an hour, I'm headed for Hebron, when shall I arrive". The soldiers: "It's not my fault". People leave the cars, try to progress on foot, some are headed for Salfit, the soldier who checks the papers tells another soldier "move them away from there" and the "mover" says to a woman who ties to explain to him why she wishes to walk "don't you understand? I shall not continue checking (until they behave 'properly')". Meanwhile the number of waiting cars mounts to thirty. After checking and argumentation they do not allow the taxi driver to continue on the road via Ariel. He is from Jenin and wishes to return there. For lack of any other option he makes his passengers leave the car. Now he has a problem: how shall he reach his destination? The commander tries to find out how he arrived at the junction (he doesn't talk Arabic). We stutter in Arabic, he tries to explain. He took all kinds of side roads. If so he cannot drive on this road. He should return by the same way he came (Enav-Beit-Lyd- Aqraba-Sha'ar Benyamin), or perhaps he should fly by airplane. The commander replies to our request that he add somebody to do the checking "they will stand here even seven more hours". For cars coming from the north there are two checking posts. Not all the posts are manned. There are not enough soldier to make life possible!! A bus with passengers from Nablus. A passenger says that they stood for an hour and a half a Huwwara. They are on their way to Ramallha. After the papers have been collected, they are all told to leave the bus. They are all members of the Palestinian Police. Not just police, they are the Police orchestra. They take out drums and containers of other musical instruments. One of them begins drumming on the drum, laughs, and the others open their containers. In one of them there is a saxophone. They say that the Prime Minister of Slovenia is today guest at Ramallah and that they are on the way to play in his honor.At 8:25 -the bus moves and so do we. We counted 35 cars coming from the direction of Nablus. At Beita cars enter and leave. From the road there seems to be no blockage.8:45 – HuwwaraTwo detainees in the detainees' shed Israeli citizens. One of them seems to be an invalid. There are crutches near them. A. the commander goes up from time to time to interrogate them. Shouts in an accusing unbelieving tone of voice. A little after our arrival, while we were moving around, they were probably released. In any case the detainees' shed is empty.Heaps of iron, plaster, wooden boards and tin are on the road, disrupting the passage into town.There is one post for ID checking, one for physical checking, in the concrete and fenced-in building. On the other side the turnstiles are opened freely and the pressure is concentrated in the ID checking area. From the other side, near the exit point, after the ID checks, stands a soldier with his weapon aimed directly at the people standing in the queue. From time to time another ID checking post is added, from time to time a 'humanitarian queue' is opened. Not always does the 'humanitarian queue' save time for the men\women, as the women have to wait for the men accompanying them.The pedestrians entry route to Nablus changes from time to time as a result of the preparations for works that are carried out at the CP. The army needs a major on the spot, to reach a decision what should be done each time. Should they walk on the road? Should they walk on the leveled dirt road? How should one know? One soldier says: "but there is a signpost on which is written "passage for pedestrians'". After the 'war council' people are directed to the leveled path which bypasses the CP from the right.At about 9 a young man comes up to us. He is on his way to the CSO to get an entry permit to Israel in order to be witness at a trial regarding the wounding of a Palestinian which happened at the Beit Iba CP. The CSO representative told him to go by way of the road coming from Beit Furik. He asks whether this is nto dangerous. The commanded A. says "if it is, what does it matter".A student who studies in Nablus and lives in Amuriya, want to return home. The village is not far from Salfit, but it is written in the computer of the girl soldier at the checking post that the village is near Tuel Karem, and the inhabitants of Tul Karem have not right to pass through Huwwara. For a moment the young man is embarrassed. What shall he do? With the help of a map we have we contacted D. from the CSO who checked the map he had, consulted with A. and the student was allowed to pass.10:10 – A group of workers of "Paltel" is due to arrive for a presentation at Ramallah. One of them is from Tul Karem. The attempts at persuasion by D. from the DCO are of no avail. The man returns to Nablus. And there were also human gesture: a soldier asks to let an old man pass via the entrance road to Nablus and not via the bypass path. D. offers the man a chair and runs to fetch a glass to pour him water, asks a passing taxi to take him and helps him mount the taxi.D. tells us about the former mayor of Nablus who arrived at the CP and objected to the dog entering his car, as a dog is an impure creature. The dog trainer girl insisted and insisted and so did the man, although he was ready to take all the objects out of his car. D. applied authority and said he would report on that, as the former mayor said that he would not meet the man he was due to meet. In the end no use was made of the dog.The queue of cars leaving was short, but it took the bus, whose arrival time at the CP we did not see exactly, more than half an hour to continue, from the moment we began taking the time.We left at 10:4010:00-10:15 Beit FurikThe CP is almost entirely empty. From time to time people arrive. "I wish all CPs would be like that" says a soldiers."We wish there were no CPs at all" we answered him. "I wish that" he says.10:58 – at Tapuach – a bus which we saw leaving Huwwara stands. Again all the passengers were made to leave the bus, and again they are forced to stand in a queue.20 cars coming from the West..