Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), יום א' 1.2.09, בוקר
Translation: Suzanne O.
Zeita
7:25 a.m.
The traffic both of people and cars is heavy on both sides of the roadblock made of stones.
Za'atra
7:30 a.m.
There are 9 cars facing east, among them a bus, and 15 cars from the north.
Huwwara
8:00 a.m.
N. meets us, he is the Palestinian whose brother was struck on the head by a soldier with the full force of his weapon. He is still in hospital in Nablus and, according to his brother, is unable to speak. N. wants to move his brother to a hospital in Israel. We promised to investigate the possibilities of obtaining help from the Peres Peace Institute. We informed him of the existence of 'Yesh Din' and he expressed willingness to contact them so we gave him the organisation's telephone number.
There are no vegetable stalls in the car park but the coffee, rolls and various sweet stalls are there.
There are about 40 people at the turnstiles, perhaps more. We calculated that the waiting time was a quarter of an hour. The roadblock is quiet. During the whole time we were there we did not hear the Military Policewomen shouting at the Palestinians. However, the humiliating inspections are ongoing.
The commander, P., is friendly towards us but insists that we do not move out of the area permitted to us (by the army).
There is a moderate stream of people into Nablus.
A medical orderly, a Red Cross volunteer, tried to cross via the humanitarian lane but was not permitted to do so. Our pleas did not help. He spoke to T., the DCO representative, who sent him back to the general queue.
9:30 a.m.
A man approached us: his brother is held up every day at the roadblock for 20 minutes to half an hour.
The queue at the turnstiles lessens. There is a queue of 20 cars at the exit from Nablus.
T., the DCO representative, asks if we can locate a Palestinian driver who was fined NIS.2,000 by the police. He would like to try and help him. We located the driver and referred him to T. It turns out that he was involved in a road accident.
10:00 a.m.
A lorry, trying to get into Nablus, is not permitted to do so and is sent back. Three additional lorries, also wanting to get into Nablus, when they saw what happened drove off without any further effort to do so.
We left the roadblock.