'Awarta, Beit Furik, Burin (Yitzhar), Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 20.11.08, Morning

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Observers: 
Esti V., and Nava A.
Nov-20-2008
|
Morning
Seriously? Does this make us safer?

Translation:  Suzanne O.


The shift is made up of a short observation time and a long journey.


Sha'ar Shomron

6:25 a.m. 

The roadblock is unstaffed at the east.

The huge roundabout at the entrance to Ariel eases the flow of traffic.

The entrance to Marda is open but the barrier at Zeita is in place.


Za'atra/Tapuach Junction

6:45 a.m. 

There are no cars from the direction of Ariel.

From the direction of Huwwara a queue is starting to build up and the officer hurries to open an additional checkpoint.

There are no Border Police at the entrance to Beita.


Borin/Yitzhar

7:00 a.m. 

Not a soul.

A Border Police vehicle is parked at Borin opposite the United Feed warehouse and looks as though its passengers have deserted it.


Huwwara

With the evacuation of the humanitarian point and the continuation of the road works the car inspection area for cars leaving has been reduced.  Even so, we do not see a queue at all.  The x-ray machine stands at the foot of the new lane.  There is no crowding at the pedestrian queue, the men are inspected one at a time and the women cross quickly via their, and the elderly, queue.

There are no detaineesinfo-icon.  The DCO representative is present.  The car park is busy and full.


Awarta

7:25 a.m. 

There are only a few vehicles at the back to back; there is a queue at the exit from Nablus including a number of private cars, apparently belonging to the high and mighty.


Beit Furiq

7:40 a.m. 

There is a long queue of cars to get into town and a lot of crowds at the pedestrian lane.

The women do not cross via the turnstile so as not to be crushed by the tens of men waiting in the queue.  It is not possible to speak to the commander; he is hostile and rude.  He tells us that we must leave the roadblock on the orders of the Brigade CO.  The 'café' is deserted and we hear contradictory rumours as to the reason.


Back to Huwwara

8:00 a.m. 

The traffic is flowing and there are no queues of cars either at the entrance or the exit.  There are no detainees or prisoners.

We are in a hurry to finish the shift because we are on our way to a humanitarian mission:  to help a youth from Beita who was badly beaten at the beginning of the week at Na'alin roadblock and whose documents were taken from him.  He was told to come to Na'alin to collect his documents but is afraid that he will not be permitted to cross at Za'atra without documents.  The youth does not speak Hebrew and is accompanied by a friend who speaks a little Hebrew.  We started on the long and winding way and when we arrived at Na'alin the soldiers received us with great astonishment.  According to them they do not have the documents at the roadblock and he needs to go to the DCO at Ramallah or Huwwara to find them.  The youngsters did not know how they would get back to Beita without documents or money.  Esti donated them money and I wrote and signed a permit for them.  After 1:00 p.m. we were informed that they had reached Beita safely.

Thank you to everyone who helped me to find a safe route.