Nablus

Improvised CP at the Yitzhar
junction (2 km before the Huwwara CP). 10 Palestinians detained
since morning for circumventing the CP on a dirt road. Their cars
were confiscated. The soldiers refused to talk to us. On the other
side, an elderly merchant, his transit full of shoes. His permit
expired. He is willing to turn back, but his ID was taken around
noon. A phone call to the DCO. After about half an hour the keys
are returned to 6 of the men, and the DCO says that the rest will
be returned soon. Another hour -- nothing happens. We call again.
E. at the DCO seems confused, tries to cover for the officer but
does not know the details. First he says that the Palestinians
drove around the CP, then that they tried to run over the soldiers.
Now, he says, their IDs are being checked. We say: "But their
IDs were not even taken!". He answers: "When I say their
IDs were taken, I mean they are being punished. It is our name for
punishment". He claims that new rules allow detaining for up
to 4 hours. But it has been more than 4 hours. We give up.

Huwwara checkpoint, south: Not a very long queue, moving
along.

North: A huge crowd, more than 1000 people, mostly young,
pushing and waving their IDs. They are in two groups - men and
women. A queue of blinking ambulances, with patients inside, some
children, waiting for over an hour. We intervene, and they all are
sent on their way. The too few soldiers are mostly busy distancing
the pushing crowd away from themselves. Passage is very slow. We
call the DCO. 15 minutes larer a jeep arrives with soldiers, and
the women's queue almost disappears, while the men's queue becomes
much shorter, though still long. We hear that in the morning,
people were not allowed to pass, and the wait was 4-5 hours. One
detainee had tried to pass the queue from the side. The soldiers
insisted they would hold him for 4 hours, our please
notwithstanding. It was very cold, and the detainee was shivering.
He refused our offer of a sweater.

16:30. Back at the Yitzhar junction, all the detainees
still there, though it is almost time for breaking Ramadan fast.
They have been joined by about 30 students whose IDs were also
taken for a "checkup", without time limitation. The
officer still refuses to talk to us. He also refuses to talk to the
DCO. They say he is entitled to his decisions, and hang up. A
settler arrives and yells at us "May you lose your
children" and "Pity you survived the Shoah".

18:00. Zaatra (Tapuah) junction: A large queue of
students, the same ones who had waited for hours in Huwwara. Here,
too, the soldiers refuse to talk to us. It is dark, people are
hard-pressed to break the fast, and the soldiers are indifferent to
their plight. Now some of the people that waited earlier at the
Yitzhar checkpoint arrive. They will have to wait again, until
allowed to go to the next CP... Who knows when they will arrive
home. We have half a bag of cookies and half a bottle of water to
offer them. They snatch it and asked if we have any more..