'Anabta
04/07/2011 ,Morning
Nina S., Dafna S. (reporting), Translator: Charles K
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Hablacheckpoint
07:03 The gates opened and the first five people entered. Twenty people had crossed by 07:14. The crossing continued operating smoothly and by 07:21 a total of 35 people had crossed. An additional vehicle and a man on a donkey went through quickly.
Eliyahu gate. Approximately ten people waiting.
Falamya gate:
07:45 No one is here except for a young Bedouin to whom we gave a ride from Jayyus. His family lives on the Israeli side of the fence, not far from the crossing. He moved to Jayyus but also works in his family’s fields and groves; they came here in 1948 and belong to the ‘Arab Ramadin tribe. He told us that the fence will soon be relocated west (from Sal’it to Jayyus); this was the first we’d heard of it.
A taxi driver with three Ecumenicals also arrived. He also told us that the fence will be moved west, and about the problems that uprooting the olive trees will cause. It isn’t clear who receives the revenue from the sale of the uprooted trees, and how much they’ll get.
Moving the fence will allow Jayyus to use its wells. On the other hand, lands belonging to Jayyus, Falamya and others will still be on the other side of the fence and people will need crossing permits to cultivate them. They’ll also lose additional agricultural land because of the fence.
We stopped at Jit to meet someone who’s forbidden to enter Israel; he signed documents to try to void the prohibition.
08:45 Shavei Shomron. There’s no checkpoint.
'Anabta checkpoint: It’s open. We see a military vehicle and a small water truck near the pillbox. The soldiers are apparently engaged in observation and aren’t visible.
Te’anim crossing is quiet. People go through quickly.
13/06/2011 ,Morning
Niva D., Leora S., Rony S. (reporting), Translator: Charles K
Habla
The first five were already walking to work when we arrived.
07:08 The second five come through. Inspection is rapid. The female MP at the entrance carefully inspects all the bags and sacks, but does so quickly and politely.
The bus with children arrives. In response to our question the driver tells us that summer vacation has begun but there’s a private school in Qalqilya that’s still open, and he’s transporting the children to it. The MP enters the bus, takes the driver’s ID, inspects it quickly and returns gives it without him having to leave the bus.
Our acquaintance, the guard at the plant nurseries, arrives from work, and while waiting for the MP to notice him tells us that they’re again moving the fence near his village, Dab’a, located next to Alfei Menashe. He’s pleased.
We didn’t really understand where the fence is being moved to. Are they making changes to the fence that was moved only a year ago so that the three villages of Ras Tira, Dab’a and Khirbet Rashrash won’t be in “Israeli” territory, and be returned to the territory of the Palestinian Authority? The new fence left many of the residents’ lands beyond the fence, and the land was annexed to Alfei Menashe. Is it possible that this injustice is now being rectified?!?
07:45 The MP at Habla continues inspecting rigorously. A father with two young daughters arrives in a horse cart. The MP takes them out of turn to the inspection booth and then carefully inspects the cart and its contents. At the same time, laborers continue to be quickly inspected, but there are still at least twenty waiting and, as usual, there are arguments over who’s next in line.
We have an interesting conversation with H., who operates the well – he has the same opinions as ours about the fence, the political situation and the political leadership. He hopes that a Palestinian state will be declared in September, because:
“Still waters – don’t do anything, but if they’re set in motion they may overflow, which might be dangerous, but something will happen, there will be movement…”
08:25 We got on the access road to Alfei Menashe and turned onto the road to Ras A-Tira hoping we’d be able to see where the fence is being moved to, but we reached the yellow gate that blocks access and couldn’t see anything from there.
08:30 No laborers waiting at the Eliyahu gate.
08:35 As of now, it doesn’t seem as if the work on the fence at Izbat Tabib has advanced. Are they waiting for a Supreme Court decision?
08:50 Via 'Azzun and Jayyus to the Falamya agricultural gate.
A flock of goats comes through the gate into the village without delays.
All the farmers must have gone through by now, and we didn’t meet anyone.
Back to Route 55. We saw no military activity all the way to Jit junction.
09:20 A flying checkpoint has been set up at Jit junction, toward Tapuach junction, but we didn’t see they’d stopped any vehicles.
We continued toward Deir Sharaf, where we’d made an appointment with a Palestinian who S. is dealing with. We had him sign documents, and talked.
10:30 'Anabta
No activity at the gate.
(Jubara) 10:40 Te’anim gate
Soldiers glance at our banners waving in the wind and say hello.
Bulldozers continue their activity around Abu Hatem’s house.
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12/06/2011 ,Afternoon
Alix W., Susan L. (reporting)ף Visitors: L.W., M.C.
Summary
The Arab Spring is shifting all the pieces on the Middle East board. In Israel, Tel Aviv's Gay Pride parade draws thousands of people, while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is rarely on the radar screen. What continues to be talked about derisively and dismissively is “The Arab Street.” Yet, at the same time, we MachsomWatchers continue to witness a military occupation whose goals seem to be annexation of the territories occupied and exploitation of its inhabitants.
Habla
12:30 a “blue Israeli police” van follows us into the dirt path leading to the agricultural gate, but immediately turns around and leaves.
13:00 – the gate opens on time, with a plethora of soldiers present plus a variety of military vehicles, some of which leave. At one point, there are six to eight soldiers, but, when things settle down, there is the usual complement of four plus the now usual “boss” of reservists on duty at the gate – a military police person, this week a woman. It seems she enjoys the little bit of power she can exercise, not only over the people occupied but also her supposed colleagues, the reservist soldiers.
13:15 – the usual horse and pony carts, tractors, trucks carrying a variety of nursery plants and, of course, people. What is unusual today is that in the time we are there, three people are not allowed to pass the Separation Barrier. The military policewoman is seen to make phone calls, and when we ask a good natured soldier what’s going on and why people are refused entry to their own lands, he grins and indicates he has no idea: “Only the military policewoman knows why.”
13:25 – when we see a chance to ask her, we do so, and she replies by swiftly turning her back on us and walking determinedly over to the concrete checking booth.
13:35 – at the third such refusal, we call the Matak, District Coordinating Officer who enlightens us about why one Palestinian has been turned back. “This is an agricultural gate, and he had marble on his truck, which cannot go through an agricultural gate.” If it was, indeed, marble, it was certainly not a truckful, maybe one slab, which could not be seen by us, so certainly not building material but, instead, another form of hounding for Palestinians which seems to have been invented on this pleasant summer day. As for the other two who were turned back, the Matak has no idea why. Maybe the military policewoman gained status with the first and vowed to continue in this vein.
A troubling graffiti in the former Zim container, which is supposed to provide the Palestinians with shelter from sun and rain, and which is usually free of graffiti. The oft seen Hebrew slogan, “Am Israel Hai” (the people of Israel live).
Qalqilya and Route 55
The entrance to the city, where once stood a checkpoint, is busy, many vehicles in both directions, as is true also along Route 55, which, only a week ago, on Naksa Day, was almost completely free of traffic.
15:00 – to the former checkpoint of Beit Iba, we take the road from Jit Junction and near the sign indicating that the road is a “gift of the American people to the Palestinian people” a lone female camel grazes. A first and pleasant sighting in this part of the northern West Bank.
Anabta
A group of soldiers can be seen from the junction, but the checking booths are, as usual, empty, and traffic flows freely.
15:50 Jubara
A military policewoman (maybe a twin of the one at Habla), requests and takes our identity cards and the passport of one visitor, tells us to put the car on the other side of the checkpoint. She calls over a couple of soldiers, and the three gather round as we ask if they know what MachsomWatch is or does. They mutter, yes, but seem to have no idea how to look at an ID and mumble questions about where we’ve been, where we’re going, and whether we’re returning..
Behind Abu Ghatem’s house, work proceeds, and a soldier confirms that it is, indeed, a new fence. It looks to us that some of Abu Ghatem’s land must have been appropriated, huge white boulders placed around the perimeter, and we note, too, that near his house a soldier patrols, and the white Matak jeep is standing there. When we take our visitor back to Jubara (on her way to Tulkarm), from Irtah, we learn, for the first time, that for a pedestrian to enter the town, she/he has to take a footpath from the main roadway, “down into the wadi,” whereas the checkpoint on the north side of Jubara is just for people and vehicles exiting Tulkarm.
16:00 Irtah (Sha’ar Efraim)
Streams of returning workers go straight through to the turnstile on their way home, and the guard at the entrance is even helpful today, telling us that this “terminal” is only for Palestinian workers, not for those who want to go to Tulkarm: that can only be done via Jubara.
01/06/2011 ,Afternoon
Karin Lindner, Gila Pekelman, Shoshi Inbar (reporting and photographing)
Translator: Charles K.
12:45 Habla– We arrived early and started talking with two Palestinians who were waiting for the gates to open. They complained about the opening hours. They would like the gate to open earlier in the morning, at 06:00 rather than at 07:00, and also in the afternoon, at 17:00 rather than at 17:45.
Another thing: They say the soldiers speak to them rudely, order them around (“back”), particularly when many people are waiting and crossing takes too long. They say inspections could be conducted more quickly. They have land registered in the tabu on which they grow olive saplings (other crops need more water than they’re allotted). During the summer they’d rather start work earlier and go home earlier.
An army jeep with three soldiers arrives; they wait for the MP’s.
13:00 About ten people gather around us, and a few Palestinians on the village side.
13:10 - The gate is still closed. A pickup and a truck arrive. We talk to the soldiers and understand that the vehicle broke down but was repaired and the MP’s are on the way.
13:25 – The army vehicle arrives. The gate finally opens but the computer isn’t working.
The soldiers decide to prepare a handwritten list. The first five hand over their IDs, a pickup and a truck go through.
We’re told that yesterday the gate opened at 18:30. We ask the soldiers, who say that’s when they were told to open it – today also – unlike what the sign on the gate says.
The soldier says: “There’s a mix-up.”
The first five Palestinians cross from the village.
An amiable Palestinian man gives us a foot-long cucumber…fresh and tasty.
13:40 Eliyahu crossing – 4 cars wait from each direction. Two tractors are working off to our left. What’s being built?
14:00 Izbet Tabib - The concertina wire fence is about 400 meters long. We’re not sure whether it’s been completed.
14:15 Jayyous – We visit Na’im. We’re told the village has been quiet for the past few days. We drive to the second-hand store and give bags of clothes to his wife.
Back to route 55 toward El Funduq, and then north to route 60.
15:165 Anabta – Soldiers in the guard tower, a water wagon alongside. No sign indicating that it’s the entrance to Area A.
15:30 Kafriat/Te’anim crossing – It’s quiet.
15:35 Irtah/Efraim gate – Many people returning home. A mother and son who are going to a wedding say they’ve been waiting since 15:00 at the revolving gate to enter Israel. We ask the guards why they’re not allowed through. We’re told they arrived only five minutes ago, and they’ll be let through soon.
Y. stopped alongside us and asked us to help a relative of his, a 25 year old man who’d been jailed in Israel and since being released has been suffering from chills and fever. Doctors in the West Bank and in Jordan couldn’t help him. He wants an entry permit to Israel, to be examined in a hospital. We told him how to go about obtaining one. We have his information.
30/05/2011 ,Morning
Niba D., Leora S. (a new member), Rony S. (reporting), Translator: Charles K
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07:00 Habla
The gates opened on time, but crossing is very slow.
It took seven minutes to inspect the first five, and that continued. An MP outside waved the bus drivers through, as well as Palestinians with special permits. But most people had to wait a very long time. It turned out the computer has been down for a few days. We notified the humanitarian office.
07:45 We left
07:50 Eliyahu crossing
There are still about 20 Palestinians waiting to go through.
08:00 We drove on Izbet Tabib’s local road to see the new fence. It’s still not completed but it’s possible to see how, when it’s done, it will block access to the olive trees.
We drove via 'Azzun to Jayyus, and through the lovely orchards to the Falamya agricultural gate .Work paving the road to Tulkarm is continuing and all traffic takes a side road, raising much dust.There is very little traffic at the gate.
We continued on the Falamya bypass road to Kufr Jamal and through other villages, in all of which roads are being paved and widened. We returned to Route 55 via Funduq.
We saw no soldiers or military vehicles on the road during our entire drive (including Jit junction).
A completely new neighborhood is under construction at Qedumim.
We drove along the Shavei Shomron wall through Deir Sharaf to Route 60. A few Israeli pickup trucks and people looking at maps stood in the empty lot opposite the location where the checkpoint and the gate to that settlement once stood.
I recommend going by there from time to time to see whether anything changes!!
Since a new member had joined us, we drove to Beit Iba to show her the remains of the terrible checkpoint that was there. We found it difficult to describe to her how awful it was, and how one day Israel’s security no longer required it.
We stopped for a coffee break and pastry at our friend’s grocery/bakery in Deir Sharaf.
On our way back we saw a number of military vehicles on the road.
We drove via 'Anabta, and were surprised to come upon two Israeli vehicles at the checkpoint, from which three officers emerged. We also left our car to observe them. They ignored us, of course, and discussed the condition of the road at the abandoned checkpoint, examined what had been installed there for the greater glory of the state of Israel, and drove on.
At the same time, Palestinian vehicles were driving back and forth, ignored by the soldiers in the guard tower.
In our honor, a soldier climbed down and asked what we’re doing. Observing, we replied. He asked us not to go through the checkpoint. We agreed…
On the way back we went through the entrance to Avnei Hefets to show Leora how the settlement has taken over Shufa’s lands and prevents free passage between the two parts of the village, and access to the main road.
We returned home via the Te’anim crossing (Jabara). We began to tell Leora about Jabara and Abu Hattam, but it made us sad and weary.
There were no serious or unusual incidents during our shift, but it again provided a clear example of how difficult the occupation routine is.
29/05/2011 ,Morning
Anthya S (photographing), Aviva H (reporting)
07:10 Habla Agricultural Gate
Gate is open. Steady stream of Palestinians on foot, bike, tractor, donkey and carriages. Two hummers are on site. A bit of chaos on the Palestinian side as frustration mounts at the slow pace of processing the passage.
We spoke to a Palestinian who 
came to the gate to pick up a worker. He explained that he leaves his house at 5 AM and by the time he crosses (gate 109) and comes to fetch his workers from Habla it is after 8 AM when he finally gets to work. A three hour process every day. We felt hostility and despair form the Palestinians who passed through, some even asked us why we were there when day after day nothing 
in their routine changes. We waited till 8AM when the man’s worker finally got through the gate.
08:05 Eliyahu Crossing
The crossing is clear; there are no hold ups and no lines.
08:10 Izbat Tabib
We drive on a side road (parallel to Road 55) to see if there are any checkpoints at Izbat Tabib. The gate is open. We meet and pick up a Palestinian woman who asks for a lift to Azzun. We regret that we are unable to chat with her as she doesn’t speak any Hebrew or English and we don’t speak Arabic.
08:15 Azzun
We drive through and the yellow gate is open and unmanned.
08:30 Falamya Agricultural Gate 927
The gate is open, quiet, only one tractor passes while we are there. There is moderate traffic on the road to Tulkarm.
09:10 Anabta
The gate is unmanned and there is a free flow of traffic in both directions
09:25 Te’enim Crossing
We are waved through without being stopped.
09:30 Irtah (Sha’ar Efraim)
We walk to the back turnstiles to find a group of 50-60 people who tell us that they have been waiting for an hour in the hot sun without anyone going through. We try to find out what the hold up is at the main entrance gate and speak to a couple of people who tell us that the computers are down. We call the Humanitarian Line in Jerusalem and are told that they will check it out. We head back to the turnstiles and indeed the turnstiles are opened and several people are let through and then nothing again. We call the Humanitarian number again and shortly thereafter the gates begin to open every couple of minutes with 6-8 people allowed through each time. We hoped that it was because the computer problems had been resolved.
22/05/2011 ,Afternoon
Alix W., Susan L. (reporting); Guests: Ann K., Mel K.
Summary
It’s of course presumptuous to say that the women of MachsomWatch are helping to harness change in the Middle East, but it’s true that we are, have been and will continue to be a democratic movement, and that we have called for an end to what looks like permanent occupation, and for a peace deal based on endorsing the reality of Israel’s boundaries before the 1967 Six Day War. Our main objectives are based on the protection of Palestinian human rights of which earning a livelihood and enjoying freedom of movement are but two rights on which we report violations. Moreover, we who pass into the OPT and monitor the ever creeping Separation Barrier, and what it involves, see in it a demographic reality that does increasing damage to the fabric of Palestinian life with the non stop harassment and humiliation that defines occupation.
13:15 Green Line
We cross the Green Line, over Route 6, Israel’s only toll road, and wonder, as we do, each week, how our fellow citizens are left in total ignorance as to where that line should, in fact, be. There are no markings, no signs of what once existed or exists today on precious few maps. The Green Line between what is internationally recognized (the 1949 Armistice) as Israel and what is occupied Palestinian territory tends to be ignored both in theory and practice. And to the women of MachsomWatch it’s pretty clear that the Israeli government would like to move final borders as far east as they possibly can. It is therefore obvious why Netanyahu, now in Washington, downplays the significance of the Green Line. But the reality we view, several kilometers ahead and east of us, is the ever creeping Separation Barrier, snaking its way through lands that have, for generations, been Palestinian owned.
13:20 Habla Gate 1392
The gates have been open for a while; the almost brand new pedestrian gate is now padlocked, no longer used – after how few weeks? A soldier, one of a group of reservists, tells us that they are new here; that he has no idea about a school bus of Bedouin children, but a bus has already passed; he adds, quite cheerfully, that he’d prefer to be at the Dead Sea or in Eilat, but then the conversation ceases when a fellow soldier informs us that we cannot stand where we have been, but need to step back to the gate itself.
Another soldier trains a pair of binoculars on the village of Habla, and on being asked why, says he’s looking at “the view” including flowers of which there are none at this time of year.
A beautiful horse appears, together with a frisky and skittish young foal not far behind, but otherwise few people, just one tractor and one horse drawn cartful of fruit.
Route 55, Deir Sharaf, Anabta, Route 57
Nothing untoward to report, merely that Occupation seems to go on forever. Happily, the beautiful carpentry work of the Huwwash Brothers near the former Beit Iba checkpoint seems to display a more welcoming permanence.
Near Jubara, on Route 57, one Hummer has stopped an Israeli car (yellow license plates), on the side of the road, and at Jubara the two seated soldiers don’t even bother to get up as we pass.
16:10 – cows crossing the road make a change from the customary goats and sheep, and these, not the usual black and white, but light brown, waddle their way to yellowing fields, which seem to provide little sustenance for the likes of cows, near the back-to- back crossing at Irtah.
16:15 Irtah (Sha’ar Efraim)
A large crowd of returning workers in a never ending flow, but no women at this relatively late hour. We learn that entry into Israel for the laborers this morning, the first day of the new week, was “as expected” but, lo and behold, the entryway, through the turnstile, into the checking hall, is completely closed and, instead, a metal gate, leading directly to a turnstile, leading down to the other turnstiles by the parking lot on the Palestinian side of the “terminal” is now open.
We express our pleasant surprise to the Palestinians who greet us in their usual manner, but as they walk this untrodden path homewards, they display no emotion, either of astonishment or joy, at this so-called new found freedom. After all, the checking hall and its ugly monitoring of body and foodstuffs could be back tomorrow! Years of occupation have taught Palestinians that nothing can be trusted, that the only consistency about occupation lies in its inconsistency.
As is usual here, we have been spotted by the private contracting company overseeing this “terminal,” and a staff member appears from inside the checking hall, telling us, that today is the first day of a new policy: no checking of Palestinians on their return to the Territories. He has no idea who made such a decision, merely that for the first time in his five years at the “terminal,” there is no checking of returning Palestinians -- at least for today.
01/05/2011 ,Morning
Anthya S, Aviva H (reporting)
Habla
07:00 We arrive to see a long line of people waiting at the gate. A military vehicle arrives and the soldiers get organized to start working.
07:10 Five people are allowed through the gate and are checked through.
We remained at this gate till 07:40. When we left there were approximately 40 people waiting to go through. Progress through the gate was very slow taking approximately 5 to 10 minutes for each group of five
.
Several vehicles were passed through as well (donkey, bulldozer, and a car)
Those who came through the gate complained to us about the new hours of operation at this gate and the slow processing. We returned to the area close to 10 AM and met several people who said that some didn’t get through till 9 AM which is a late start for the work day.
Azzun
07:50 We were surprised to see a fully manned military hummer at the entrance to Azun (just outside of the yellow gate). The soldiers did not stop anyone but were just there. We passed by again close to 09:00 AM and the vehicle was still there.
Flamia
08:10 The gate was open, one or two people crossed without delay.
Route 55
On Route 55 we noticed several more hummers parked along the side of the road.
Anabta
09:10 The checkpoint was open and not manned. Vehicle traffic passed through undisturbed
Ma’avar Te’enim
09:25 We were let through without incident
28/04/2011 ,Morning
Diran S., Aliyah S. reporting
10:00 Za'tara - We passed the junction without seeing a single soldier. The traffic was light except from Nablus, but all the vehicles were going through the junction smoothly.
10:10 Huwwara -The checkpoint was open and the cars were going into Nablus without any checking. A group of 5 soldiers was leaving the tower and the post to the east of the checkpoint. Another group of soldiers had taken their place, but they were only observing and not checking any cars. The soldiers that were leaving stopped at our car and asked us who we were and what we were doing there. Showing my tag I answered, "We're Machsom Watch." One very young looking soldier asked rather cheekily, "Watch what?" And I answered, "Watch you." But he paid no attention to my answer as one of the other soldiers was explaining to him who we are.
Before entering Deir Sharaf, by the barrels, there was an active checkpoint. A line had formed of about 20 vehicles and they were being checked before going on in the direction of Nablus. Further inside Deir Sharaf, where there had been a checkpoint for several days from the time of the incident at "Joseph's Tomb", there was no checkpoint on Thursday.
Anabta checkpoint was open and the traffic was moving easily.
11:00 Jubara checkpoint -Two police vans stood at the side of the passage facing toward Nablus. Men were getting out of the vans. We surmised that these were released prisoners who were returned to the territories. (Is it possible they were from Awarta?) The men were simply dropped off at the checkpoint to find their own way home.
13/04/2011 ,Afternoon
Alice M., Susan L. (reporting); Guest: Louise R.
Summary
The media this week are full of “Passover posts,” as if there were anything new to say on the subject of the festival of freedom. To the women of MachsomWatch, it’s quite clear that we belong on the barricades of protest, on the stage of equality and freedom for Palestinians as well as Israelis, and that our dissent, vocal and active for over a decade of particularly harsh Occupation, is a stand for the traditional Passover call to justice.
13:00 Habla, Gate 1392
The soldiers arrive, on time and on cue, but take their time to open the gates, and there are more than in the past. A brand new pedestrian gate, planted on Palestinian soil, adds to the already present gates on either side of the Security Barricade checkpoint. Progress or institutionalization of the already 44 year old Occupation? The latter, surely, as well as more shekels flowing into the “Who Profits” basket.
One of the three waiting Palestinians on our side, one of whom has complained that he can get no permit to work in Israel, tells the soldiers that “We are only three,” and they use the pedestrian gateway, and walk over to the concrete building on the other side to be checked.
Two soldiers now close the vehicle checking gates near where we stand. Why? For protection against onslaught? If so, by whom?
13:10 – on the far side of the Separation Barrier, we spy the usual tractors, horse cart and a smaller bus than usual for the Bedouin schoolchildren, once again, a mixed group of boys and girls. Pedestrians from the far side cross the usual way, and the brand new pedestrian gate is forgotten. We see that a young man is putting on his belt as he walks towards Habla and we wonder if there’s yet another innovation? A metal detector in the concrete bunker like building? Who knows? After all, we are not privy to the authorities’ strategy or secrets.
13:15 – a flock of sheep and their shepherd wobble their way towards us, and a digger tractor is “searched” in the usual perfunctory manner. The reservist manning the vehicle gates has no idea why there are more soldiers than usual today, at least six or eight, “I’m only a reservist, don’t know what is going on,” and, yes, he will work on the Passover holiday.
13:35 – the friendly nursery owner is “entertaining” a nursery man from Qedumim, a settlement, and we continue to wonder at the paradoxes of Occupation, especially as the latter tells us, in Hebrew, “We are family.”
14:00 – some twenty or so minutes later, outside the settlement itself we spy a Hummer, one of several, especially around settlements today, and higher up the hill, opposite the Palestinian village of Jit, there is a brand new water pipe and its brightly shining controls rising arrogantly from the ground, serving, we have no doubt, the settlement alone and not its nearest neighbor.
14:10 Jit Junction
A Hummer has stopped there, and soldiers are questioning a Palestinian, although there appears to be no vehicle in sight.
14:30 Deir Sharaf
Yesterday, a new United Nations report, 12.4.11, highlighted progress made by the Palestinian Authority in building institutions necessary for a functioning State, while stressing the need for Israel to roll back “measures of occupation.” “In the limited territory under its control and within the constraints on the ground imposed by unresolved political issues, the PA has accelerated progress in improving its governmental functions,” stated the report, entitled “Palestinian State-building: A Decisive Period.” UN Special Coordinator Robert Serry commended the progress achieved by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, but today the Palestinians disagreed with the analysis and expressed doubts that statehood would be achieved any time soon.
15:15 Shavei Shomron
The checkpoint is no more, and we can sail through easily, but fail to find the Roman ruins for which Sebastia is famous!
16:00 – on the other hand, checkpoints are still alive and well; at the former access point to the settlement, (before the settlers demanded their brand new access road), soldiers are beginning to set up a checkpoint, including spikes on the roadway, but wave us on, as they do the white car behind us with Israeli license plates.
16:15 Anabta
Traffic flows freely, but there is a Hummer and soldiers standing at the foot of the military lookout tower.
16:40 Shaar Efraim
Flocks of Palestinians step down from their contractors’ buses or pickup trucks and walk directly into the terminal building; the flow is continuous, many people carrying strawberries or other packages. We gather that there is no real information as to when the “closure” will begin for the week-long Passover festival when the OPT are closed off more than ever. Surprisingly enough, the Palestinians go on their way without being stopped at any checking booth, and walk straight through the building – homeward bound. As usual, complaints about the long wait in the morning, the time it gets to get to work, and one complaint about withdrawal of a work permit for no apparent reason.
