Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 24.4.08, Morning

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Observers: 
Rahel A. and Esti W.
Apr-24-2008
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Morning

Translation: Hanna K.

6:25 at Shaar Shomron there is a police CP in the direction from west to east


6:40 Marda is open, Zeita is closed by concrete blocks


6:45 Za'tara/Tapuah Junction.
10 vehicles are waiting from Ariel to Ramallah. 10 vehicles are waiting from Huwwara to Ramallah.
A reserve regiment is serving here. There is no pressure at the CP. Everything is working properly.
 

6:50 Opposite Beita there is no guard.

Burin/Yitzhar Junc. is open.

7:05 Huwwara - 
A  well functioning CP. The traffic seems sparse to us, but the locals in the parking lot tell us that it is the usual one, but that the CP is functioning efficiently and therefore it is not felt that the stream of people is a considerable one. Only one person unfastened his belt and I think he acted out of habit and not because he was asked to do so.

7:35 Awarta.
A queue of 14 vehicles from the direction of Nablus to Awarta.
Another 4 vehicles stand on the side. The CP functions slowly. Two tracks wait from the direction of Awarta to Nablus.


8:05 Beit Furik.
At the café of Beit Furik we heard that on the same spot where they found the body of the 15 years old Hamed Nadel Hatatba, another body of a 17 years old boy was found. They did not give me his name and I did not succeed in obtaining a confirmation for this piece of news. In the end I contacted Elisabeth from the eappi organization and she promised to return to me in case she succeeds clarifying the matter. She said that the Muchtar (the head of the village) promised to give her details about the first murder, but she did not hear about another body.

The CP functions very efficiently. There is no queue of waiting vehicles. The taxis which transport passengers in the direction of Nablus let the passengers get off exactly at the entrance to the turnstiles, where they pass as pedestrians while the taxi undergoes a quick check, without the driver leaving the car. The taxi continues to the other side of the CP where is collects its passengers.


8:40
On the main road of Huwwara, at a distance of about 1.5 kms from the CP there stands a command-car of the border police which stops all the taxis in the direction Za'tara-Huwwara CP.
 The border-policemen collect the IDs of all the passengers and check their numbers by phone. We wanted to understand why. The answer we got was: "just so, because we can do it. We are allowed by law to stop a suspect vehicle and detain it, even without any reason, for 20 minutes". And indeed, all the efficient functioning of the CPs suddenly disappeared as if it had never existed. The police and the army invented a new form of a CP which is operated by the border police. Please take note of this!

9:00 While we watch with despair and helplessness the border policemen, we are asked to return to the Huwwara CP to check the piece of news that 5 soldiers attacked a man and beat him, handcuffed him and detained him. We began collecting evidence and in the end, according to the best of understanding, we gathered that the man was an employee of the administration, A. A. S., a problematic worker, a handicapped person, who from time to time creates a confrontation with the soldiers but that because of his handicap he is forgiven. This time he quarreled with them because he did not get free access to the soldiers' water tank and in the end, according to the soldiers, he tried to harm a soldier and according to the Palestinians who watch the incident he was attacked by 5 people. Rahel asked Zacharia what he knew about the incident and he repeated the army's version. T. from the DCO too repeats the army version. A., the Huwwara DCO who saw it all, confirmed the soldiers' version.

10:10 On the main road of Huwwara the border police continues pestering the taxi passengers.


Za'tara/Tapuah junction - there are 8 vehicles from Nablus to Ramallah and 2 from Ariel to Ramallah.