Beit Furik, Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Thu 10.1.08, Afternoon

 Translation: Hanna K.
 

1425 - Marda, an open gate. Zeita - the entrance is closed with concrete blocks.

1429 - Za'tara/Tapuach
There are 7 cars coming from the West waiting to be checked at one checking post.

Coming from the North (from Nablus) 15 cars are waiting to be checked, there are 3 checking posts

The village of Huwwara - One doesn't see over the confiscated house the camouflage net and the Israeli flag.

1435 Burin/Yitzhar CPs are empty.

1437 Huwwara -
There are two detainees in the confinement cell: one passed with his vehicle on the apartheid road, the second passed on foot. They are detained since 1200 hrs. They were not told for how long they will be detained.

Upon our arrival we see that in the three queues of the young men there are about 150 pedestrians standing and waiting. One post is manned (the western one). 10 minutes after our arrival the military police soldier girls and the security men  arrived and manned the two abandoned posts. They gave passage permits to the waiting people after they were checked by the magnometer and had to discard each and every clothing item containing metal, ID cars, all this accompanied by screeching talk of the soldier girls. There is an x-ray vehicle.  There is no pressure at the queue of the vehicles entering Nablus. At the side queue there is almost no waiting.

1500 - Five taxi drivers are taken to the turnstile aread as a punishment action: in the packed full parking lot there is no particular place for the "special" taxis, so the drivers park near the exit from the lot, where there is a red white marking. The CP commander talks with them and releases them, after they have almost been put into the detention cell. At exactly the same time aforementioned detainees are released from the cell. A military-policewoman screams at me "it is forbidden to take photos".

T., an officer from the DCO, says that the posts were not manned because at that time exactly there was a changing of the shifts. He was the DCO officer who at the time solved the problem which arose when a Palestinian policeman was found wearing military shoes (of the Israeli Defence forces) - by taking the shoes off his feet and allowing him to walk in his socks. We reported to him that surplus IDF equipment was passed on to the Palestinian police in the Authority (again thanks to Hanna B., for checking and getting the authorization for this) but T. tries to investigate the matter on his own through the DCO and to ascertain that this information is indeed right. Until we left the CP no answer was received.

1602 - Beit Furik -
At the parking lot 5 vehicles are waiting to be checked in order to pass on to Nablus. It is impossible to see how many vehicles are waiting to pass from Nablus to Beit Furik. In the afternoon, after work at Nablus stops, the upsurge directed home, to Beit Furik, begins. The passengers of a minibus from Beit Furik are requested to alight and be checked at the pedestrians post. In 8 minutes 4 vehicles which waited in the queue to enter Nablus, passed.

A truck loaded with wood beams, which had been waiting in the queue before (in the Beit Furik parking lot) arrives at the CP and the driver waits for a sign to approach the checking point, but the checking of the vehicles stops.

A military vehicle is positioned in the lane intended for the passage of vehicles, in fact near the checking soldiers, and soldiers alight from it.

The pedestrians continue passing. There is no pressure under the shed.

1617-  Another military vehicle arrives - soldiers stand and talk and there is no vehicle traffic

1627 - we call the N. at the Center : why is there no vehicle traffic. She promises to find out

1630 -  A military Hammer and a van arrive

1633 -  The gathering has ended but they still don't let vehicles pass

The officer A. (major) explains that this is a unique event - owing to the changing of the shifts. Ordinarily they try to do it at midnight - today, exceptionally the changing of shifts has been made just now.

1636 - The van loaded with wood beams which had been waiting for a sign to pass since 1614 - the driver is allowed to move - to be checked and to drive to Nablus.

The office A. announced that in about an hour a reinforcement will arrive as there will be a greater pressure and he hoped (didn't promise) that there would be two checking lanes for vehicles.

1642 - an event worthy of mentioning - 2 checking lanes for vehicles are opened at Beit Furik!!!(better not to develop expectations - this is really an extraordinary event).

1700 - we watch (from the Awarta CP) in the direction of the queue for vehicles leaving Nablus to the Huwwara CP - we see 3 waiting vehicles.

1703 - The Burin/Yitzhar CPs are empty (not manned)

1711 - Za'tara/Tapuach - from the north it is empty, from the west: 16 vehicles waiting to be checked in one checking post are counted

1716 - Zeita - the entrance is closed, Marda - the gate is open

1718 - One Hammer with blinking nights at the side of the road west of Marda, some time late another Hammer with dimmed lights.

1723 - at the turning to Chares - there is a Hammer with blinking lights