Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Fri 14.12.07, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'tara
8:45 a.m.
There are two cars in the queue.
At Yitzhar there are no barriers in either direction.
Beit Furik 9:00 a.m.
From the road we can see a large number (greater than usual on Fridays) of cars queuing to be checked at the exit from the village. At the roadblock we find a large group of army personnel, many of them officers. They are standing in the car lane and the roadblock commander, the infamous polite one, is giving them a lecture. This does not stop him from sending us away, with a wave of his hand, behind the ‘white line'. It seems that the visiting group is halting the crossing of the cars. The illustrious soldiers/officers are in the lane and the cars are not allowed to interfere with the event. Why can't they stand a few metres away and let the cars through? "What's the problem?" " Let them wait a bit, nothing will happen". These are the kind of answers we get. It's true, nothing happened. The Palestinians in the cars wait quietly, they don't hoot, they don't complain. God's children stand in their lordly fashion (photo attached) and leave when they are ready to leave. It all takes place in peace and quiet, everything is taken for granted and natural. After about a quarter of an hour (we don't know when the visit started), the visitors go on their way and cars start to cross again. The laws are for another world, a world in which with unbearable ease, seemingly without using force, only people are held up, because really: "So what?"
Huwwara 9:00 a.m.
There are very few people. A taxi with an Israeli number plate stands near the roundabout, its bonnet is up, and a friendly dog climbs over the seats and sniffs around. The car owners are residents of Jerusalem. They have just bought the car and want to take it to Nablus. But - they don't have the necessary permits and the DCO is closed on Fridays and Saturdays. They are told to go back. OK, they understand, these are the rules, they will go back, on Sunday they will sort out the documents, but why have their ID cards been taken away and why has the dog been brought to climb over the seats? The ID cards are returned, the dog goes to sniff around somewhere else and the car is released from the grip of the roadblock.