Nablus

7.45AM: Mayhem as usual. Most men not
allowed through at all, women (often clutching babies) going around
the men, ducking under barbed wire newly stretched at waist height.
Rolls and two stretched lines of barbed wire now fence off the
slope by the pedestrian way, making it not passable, unless one
falls into the barbed wire, which seems a likely possibility. Those
arriving from the opposite direction must fight through the dense
line of people waiting, as there's still no dual carriageway.
Huwwara checkpoint, especially at 8.00 am on a Saturday (busiest
time of the whole week), is still hellishly tense, overcrowded and
potentially violent, despite promises two months ago by DCO to
redesign it. Again, soldiers went down the line forcing people
back, stopping all processing until all were in single file. They
shouted less than usual at people, perhaps due to the presence of a
Channel 10 cameraman. Vehicles had been waiting since 6.00AM, and
though soldiers seemed reasonably co-operative, it was a great
relief to see the DCO jeep arrive at the south side, and speed up
the passing. At the Nablus end, processing was so slow that there
was almost no movement. Drivers said almost no vehicles were being
let through; even ambulances were delayed. Four UN vehicles and two
UN trucks with humanitarian supplies had been waiting for hours.
The soldiers said they must reverse, they were closer than allowed,
but the drivers didn't seem to know whaat was expected. We finally
we went to the officer on the south side, who phoned the officer on
the north, who instructed the soldiers to let the UN through.
Similar intervention was required to get others through: a doctor
in his private car (he is also an ambulance driver, had paperwork
from his hospital citing a bad heart and eye problems but did not
have a permit for his own car; he finally went through on the
understanding that it was the last time he could drive through
without a car permit. We assisted a judge who needed to get to
Ramallah court, a lawyer who had a court hearing to be on time for
(he'd waited for hours, risen at 4.00 am), a pediatrician in a car
on an emergency visit, etc. Needless to say, many of those helped
were profusively grateful.