Nablus

'Twas a good day at Huwarra. The
checkpoint was "open" when we arrived a little after 9
am; only 50-60 people were waiting in line. The coffee and luggage
man welcomed us with the good news that the day before was Sergeant
S.'s last day, his unit was being replaced. He was a brutal
soldier. Here are familiar sights we DIDN'T encounter:

* Soldiers intimidating waiting folks with positioned
rifles.

* Dozens of ID's confiscated, being remembered again many hours
later.

* Stories of grave abuse occurring when we were not
there.

* The illegal procedure, where a civilian is made to check a
"suspicious" bag as the soldiers step back into presumed
safety.

* A long line of men, having been moved off their bus, standing in
the scorching sun with both arms outstretched, a soldier passing in
front of them checking their hands (or ID's) like a kindergarten
teacher checking children's hands to see whether they'd been
cleaned. Furthermore:

* The checkpoint wasn't "closed" even once during the
three and a half hours we were there (except unofficially when the
soldiers had their breakfast or wished to chat with each other a
bit).

* Part of the time there were 2 soldiers doing the checking instead
of the usual one.

* Even at the most crowded time there were no more than 100 people
waiting, and most of them were let through.

* The average time people had to wait in the scorching heat was no
more than and 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Huwwara had never looked this good before.