Habla 06:45     - the main gate is still closed, maybe we were too early. 06:50   - the first 5 people leave the inspection.  Behind the inner gate there are about 50 people waiting; less than usual.  Every 5 minutes, another 5 people go through; we are thrown out of the main gate area and stand behind it. 

Eliyahu crossing

07:30   There are no workers in the big cage.  Israel has declared a "closure". 

Jayyus

 - 5 07:35tractors and a donkey with its rider are waiting.  This is an opportunity to talk and ask questions.  The Swiss ecumenical priest whom we have met in the past is there. One of the farmers tells us how permits are given to each family allowing a certain number to go out and work on their land.  The teacher, Bassam, will leave tomorrow to go to work in his school but there won't be anyone to take his place on his land since no one else in his family received a permit. There are saws on the carts pulled behind the tractors.  The ration of water allowed is so small that it is impossible to irrigate the citrus trees.  They need the water for the vegetables, so they have to cut down the citrus. 

Falamya

 08:10  - A truck full of garbage is pulled by a tractor, but is not allowed through.  It seems that its owner has a permit, but only to Jayyus, where the gate will close in another 5 minutes.  The military policewoman surprises us with her desire to help and suggests telephoning the officer in charge to ask for a special one time gesture to let him through.  However, it then turns out that his permit is not for a tractor.  The soldier claims that they don't usually check this detail, but the military police do.  Meanwhile, after he has given up the possibility of passing through, he called his son, who has a permit to Falamya, asking him to come from the village and take the tractor in.  The son enters with the tractor and the garbage, and the father stays behind.  I asked the father why he didn't go to Jayyus (as written on the permit).  He answered that in Jayyus they don't allow him to go through with the tractor.  What harassment for a man who just wants to work on his legal land.  The distance between Jayyus and Falamya is altogether 1 kilometer.  Why do they need different permits?  And why, in the same family, they received 2 permits for 2 different gates? And then we met the family of Mahmud and his friendly wife.  Only he and his wife are permitted to go onto their land.  They returned from a visit to their plot with pails full of guava.  Their son waited for them on the other side of the fence to take them in his car to the village.  He has 7 children.  All of his 4 sons are not permitted to go out to their fields since one of them, when he was a child in 1994, took part in stone throwing.  He was brought to trial and punished - but that is not enough.  Every time that they go back and ask for an exit permit, they are denied and given strong hints that, if they are willing to cooperate with the GSS, it would help them a lot.  This same son, who once sat in jail, needed a work permit for his job in Israel, and received one for a month.  But there are no permits for him to work his land. 

Jubarra

 
09:20  - the "Childrens'" gate.  We arrived there via the village of Tzur.  One woman passed through.  One car entered.  Quiet. How we got lost and wandered around Tulkarm and ‘Anabta. We tried to go from the Jubarra checkpoint to that at Anabta, according to directions we had received from our new friends in Falamya. We didn't find any other road than the paved one which leads straight into
Tulkarm.  There we found a bus driver named Ziad, from Akraba, who happens to be a friend of Nadim's son.  He suggested that, for 20 NIS, he would drive a taxi (with a family already in it) in front of us up to the road which leaves Tulkarm in the direction of ‘Anabta.  We agreed and, in this way, we passed through the southeastern part of the city, where one Palestinian policeman stood in astonishment with his weapon in the central square and stared at us. We parted from the taxi driver and continued, according to his directions, on the road to the southeast.  We passed ‘Anabta, where people also were looking at us in surprise.  Only after a rather long trip, longer than what we had expected, we breathed more easily when we saw the checkpoint of ‘Anabta in the distance. 

'Anabta

10:00  - No one looked at us there.  We didn't see any soldiers at our fast exit.  Only then did our driver admit that, during the whole trip in both of the cities, he was very tense until he saw the checkpoint on the other side, where he felt that he had returned "home". 

Te’enim crossing

 
10:05   - 5 cars waiting, we passed through.

Summary
It’s a New Year for many, the third day of Eid el Fitr for others. The problem is that after 43 years of occupation, and Israel’s continuing determination to maintain sovereignty and confiscate land, generations of Israelis have ceased to see the other side, the Palestinians, as human beings.  Whereas, of course, MachsomWatch volunteers go into the West Bank to monitor violations of human rights, the fact is that, we also assume a “people to people” approach, visiting those we’ve gotten to know over the years, at or near checkpoints, outside terminal buildings or at agricultural gates. True, we are there to “bear witness,” but we are also there to meet and greet our fellow human beings who, just like us, wish to live a “normal” life.  

Habla
14:00 we are there at the usual opening time, and the gates are open. But since it is the first day of the “fall back” clock, we ask about gate opening. So far, only the evening opening time has changed, now from 16:45-18:00 (instead of an hour later).There are people waiting on both sides of the Separation Barrier, more on the Habla side, about 15 that we can see, half that number on the side where we watch. Since it is a holiday, there are less horse or donkey drawn vehicles than usual and not one tractor.

14:10 -- the gates are closed by the three soldiers working lackadaisically on a not too hot late summer day. Why are the gates closed? “There’s been an incident.” Nevertheless, an elderly man and his cart are let into the middle of the Separation Barrier road, and his sweetly, aromatic guavas, hidden beneath a blanket, are uncovered for inspection. On the far side of the checkpoint, the metal barricade, which has been closed, is now swung open, and this cart passed. A similar incident with another guava carrying cart, with its owner having to leave the cart and horse, as usual, to go to the concrete bunker which serves as a checking booth before proceeding.

14:20 -- a white jeep, “police” written on its side, arrives and soldiers and police talk. People wait, nothing moves. A usual situation. The speed, sorry, slowness by which the soldiers function has nothing to do with the heat but with overall policy: let them wait, check everything over and over (even of people who pass not once but twice a day, etc. etc.)

Nothing to report on Route 55 other than many military vehicles on the road. The only rolling checkpoint, if indeed it was to be one, was at the old entryway to Shavei Shomron where a group of soldiers stood at the side of the road with two Hummers. Anabta is busy with fast flowing traffic, no soldiers in view and just one vendor – of figs.

Once again, we took the newly paved road past Jit and Sarra and drove down to Beit Iba on the new asphalted stretch of road given “by the American people to the Palestinian people.” Below, Beit Iba is as dusty and forlorn looking as ever, its days of full time checkpoint duty and harassment over.

Deir Sharaf
We could be in an Israeli town, since the parking place outside the minimarket is filled with cars bearing yellow license plates. The Palestinian Israelis have been so busy shopping in Nablus and its surrounds, that the minimarket was open around the clock in the days before the start of Edi el Fitr, and even today, business is brisk.

Shavei Shomron
We drive up Route 60 to the checkpoint and, not unusual, we attract the attention of the sleepy soldiers on duty here, and two of them come over as we prepare to turn and go back down the hill. As last time, the commander, who still seems to know little of who we are and what we do, has to shush his officious underling who wants to ask questions of us.

Jubara
16:05-16:40 Just like the other Israeli cars, we stand in line and wait and wait. There are hundreds of vehicles it seems, waiting to go back into Israel proper, and we see, from afar, a long line of vehicles also entering the gateway from Tulkarm directly: the first time Jubara has been used as a junction in many years.

Irtah
16:50 There’s a barricade across the roadway, no entry into the terminal parking lot. Few returning Palestinian workers, but a number of mini vans offload workers near by.

Summary
It’s a New Year for many, the third day of Eid el Fitr for others. The
problem is that after 43 years of occupation, and Israel’s continuing
determination to maintain sovereignty and confiscate land, generations
of Israelis have ceased to see the other side, the Palestinians, as
human beings.  Whereas, of course, MachsomWatch volunteers go into the
West Bank to monitor violations of human rights, the fact is that, we
also assume a “people to people” approach, visiting those we’ve gotten
to know over the years, at or near checkpoints, outside terminal
buildings or at agricultural gates. True, we are there to “bear
witness,” but we are also there to meet and greet our fellow human
beings who, just like us, wish to live a “normal” life.  

Habla
14:00 we are there at the usual opening time, and the gates are open.
But since it is the first day of the “fall back” clock, we ask about
gate opening. So far, only the evening opening time has changed, now
from 16:45-18:00 (instead of an hour later).There are people waiting on
both sides of the Separation Barrier, more on the Habla side, about 15
that we can see, half that number on the side where we watch. Since it
is a holiday, there are less horse or donkey drawn vehicles than usual
and not one tractor.

14:10 -- the gates are closed by the three soldiers working
lackadaisically on a not too hot late summer day. Why are the gates
closed? “There’s been an incident.” Nevertheless, an elderly man and his
cart are let into the middle of the Separation Barrier road, and his
sweetly, aromatic guavas, hidden beneath a blanket, are uncovered for
inspection. On the far side of the checkpoint, the metal barricade,
which has been closed, is now swung open, and this cart passed. A
similar incident with another guava carrying cart, with its owner having
to leave the cart and horse, as usual, to go to the concrete bunker
which serves as a checking booth before proceeding.

14:20 -- a white jeep, “police” written on its side, arrives and
soldiers and police talk. People wait, nothing moves. A usual situation.
The speed, sorry, slowness by which the soldiers function has nothing
to do with the heat but with overall policy: let them wait, check
everything over and over (even of people who pass not once but twice a
day, etc. etc.)

Nothing to report on Route 55 other than many military vehicles
on the road. The only rolling checkpoint, if indeed it was to be one,
was at the old entryway to Shavei Shomron where a group of soldiers
stood at the side of the road with two Hummers. Anabta is busy with fast
flowing traffic, no soldiers in view and just one vendor – of figs.

Once again, we took the newly paved road past Jit and Sarra and drove
down to Beit Iba on the new asphalted stretch of road given “by the
American people to the Palestinian people.” Below, Beit Iba is as dusty
and forlorn looking as ever, its days of full time checkpoint duty and
harassment over.

Deir Sharaf
We could be in an Israeli town, since the parking place outside the
minimarket is filled with cars bearing yellow license plates. The
Palestinian Israelis have been so busy shopping in Nablus and its
surrounds, that the minimarket was open around the clock in the days
before the start of Edi el Fitr, and even today, business is brisk.

Shavei Shomron
We drive up Route 60 to the checkpoint and, not unusual, we attract the
attention of the sleepy soldiers on duty here, and two of them come over
as we prepare to turn and go back down the hill. As last time, the
commander, who still seems to know little of who we are and what we do,
has to shush his officious underling who wants to ask questions of us.

Jubara
16:05-16:40 Just like the other Israeli cars, we stand in line and wait
and wait. There are hundreds of vehicles it seems, waiting to go back
into Israel proper, and we see, from afar, a long line of vehicles also
entering the gateway from Tulkarm directly: the first time Jubara has
been used as a junction in many years.

Irtah
16:50 There’s a barricade across the roadway, no entry into the terminal
parking lot. Few returning Palestinian workers, but a number of mini
vans offload workers near by.

14:30  Habla

When we arrived we saw a group of five men entering to be inspected.  They trickled out and crossed without delay.  A truck carrying seedlings was also inspected and crossed without any unusual delay.

16:05  Southern Falamya gate

We entered Azzun through the main entrance, turned right under Route 55 and drove toward Jayyus.  Instead of entering Jayyus we turned right toward the village of Jamal, and after driving for about 1 ½ kilometers turned left onto a dirt road that led us straight to Falamya gate, on which “Gate 927” is written in big letters.  It’s not easy to find one’s way in the area, and we got lost a few times.  We received directions by phone from Nina Seba, who’d already been there, and Na’im el-Bada, from Jayyus, whom we met on the way in Jayyus, also helped.

If you want to reach Falamya gate, don’t miss the turn onto the dirt road, which is located about 100 meters past a road that goes steeply uphill.  At the turnoff to the dirt road are signs belonging to foreign organizations such as FUNDESOR, aecid, UAWC.

This is an agricultural gate, open from 05:00 until 17:00.  Everything appears quiet and calm.  It serves primarily villagers from Jayyus, Jamal and Falamya.  The soldiers told us they don’t see any problems; they know all the local farmers who enter with their ID cards.  Children younger than 16 wishing to help out, and are too young to have ID cards, are allowed to bring the ID card of one of their parents.  

We continued to the Western Jayyus gate, that’s nearby.  It was closed.  It’s open between 18:00 – 18:30 in the afternoon.

17:50  Anav checkpoint, via the villages of Khaja and Al-Funduq

From Jayyus we drove back up to the nearby village of Jamal.  We turned left at the central plaza.  From the road down from the plaza you can see the security fence on the left.  After about four kilometers there’s a junction at which we turned right toward Kur (if we’d gone straight we’d have reached Tulkarm).  After turning right we drove straight for about seven kilometers to the village of Khaja, which adjoins Al-Funduq.

Driving through this region, you get the impression that it’s quiet and calm.  No settlements are visible.  The area is open and the minarets of the village mosques rise above the hills.  We have to admit that the residents also seem calm and quiet.  They’re more relaxed.  People riding bicycles alongside others on donkeys.  Something about their body language expresses greater self-confidence.  Not like in Khaja and Al-Funduq that are right next to Qedumim, where the suspicious looks of people were allayed only by the flag on our car.

After driving through the villages we rode on Route 55 to Jit junction, and turned left onto Route 60, going north to the Anav checkpoint (Anabta), and from there via the Te’anim checkpoint to the Ephraim crossing.

18:20  Ephraim crossing

The crossing is almost empty, very few people going through.  The checkpoint closes at 19:00, and given that daylight saving time ended early because of Ramadan it seems that most people are getting home by this hour.

 Habla

06:45 – The gate is closed.  About 30 laborers wait behind the inner gate.  Only one soldier, an MP, explains that there’s been an alert.  He’s waiting at the inspection station.

06:50 – The military vehicle with the checkpoint commander arrives.  Five laborers enter.  The inspection is pretty fast, but the soldiers don’t allow the next five to wait outside the fence, and they waste time walking to the revolving gate and waiting for it to open – so by 07:10 only 15 people had gone through.

Eliyahu crossing

07:25 – About ten laborers still waiting to be inspected.

Jayyus

07:38 – The gate is open until 08:15.  A tractor and a car cross.  Leslie, the Irish volunteer from the Ecumenical organization, whose members have recently been next to this gate all the time, and who live in Jayyus, tells us that the gate opened ten minutes late.  Youths from Jayyus threw rocks at the soldiers when they drove first to Qalqilya to open the gate there at 06:15.  They then opened the Jayyus gate at 07:30.  According to the soldiers, the gate opened late because of the rocks, but they didn’t arrest any of the youths.

Leslie says that yesterday (Saturday) a teacher on vacation tried to go through with his tractor and the soldiers discovered among his belongings a component of an old concussion shell.  She said the soldiers panicked and alerted various units, until everyone figured out that it could be thrown away.  The teacher didn’t know who put it with his belongings.  He was detained for an hour and a half, and released.

Kafr Jamal

08:25 – We arrived here inadvertently, having intended to turn off to the Falamya checkpoint.  We must have missed the turn, but a taxi driver told us that in Kafr Jamal we could turn off to Falamya and reach the checkpoint.

Falamya

08:40 – We drive all the way through Falamya, which is full of greenhouses (some of them dried up), and arrive at a closed checkpoint.  The army’s sign on the gate doesn’t indicate when it opens and closes.  It might be seasonal, though the army hasn’t posted a sign with hours at the Habla checkpoint either.  We returned, disappointed, to Kafr Jamal.

 Kafr Sur 09:10 – The taxi driver’s directions were better this time.  We went out onto the road that goes down west and north along the security fence until the closed checkpoint.  We continued north and turned east on entering the village.  A young local man who’ll start working as a geography teacher in Safrin directed us to a road that for some reason doesn’t appear on the map.  It isn’t a good road but shortens the drive to Beit Lid and to Safrin nearby.  After letting him off in Safrin we drove back to Beit Lid. 

Beit Lid 09:25 – We left the center of Beit Lid to the east and glided along to Route 60, on the way to Beit Iba. 

Deir Sharaf 09:35 – We wanted to see whether the road to Jenin was open.  We rode until we reached the entrance to the army camp.  There’s an inactive checkpoint and soldiers guarding the entrance to the camp.  They don’t stop cars driving in any direction. 

'Anabta09:45 – One lane open in each direction; traffic is light, and flowing.  We see no soldiers in the inspection positions.  There might be someone in the tower. 

 Summary                                                                                                                                                              Our starting point is the Green Line, Route 6. East of it we are well aware of notions   about the land being "disputed," "colonized" or "separated." What is obvious on our tour are the combination of apartheid, military occupation and colonization in a manner that must be unique in the world! The upshot of the process of land acquisition and demographic engineering is a sorry spectacle on the one hand, a human tragedy on the other.

 13:40 Habla                                                          
We arrive early at Gate 1393, firmly closed in the intense heat, as a dozen or more men sit on the bench, waiting, in the boiling hot ex container (from Zim shipping line, we wonder). The army arrives after 13:45, and then only two soldiers step from the Hummer as it hurries off into the hot dust of the Separation Barrier.

13:55 -- the gates have still not opened, and the soldier, on our complaining, says he cannot "open the gate on my own," that he is awaiting another three…
When they do come, another five minutes wait, as they work in excruciating slowness, while horse, donkey cart, tractor, bicycle and about 20 male workers take their place to get through the Separation Barrier. Just one woman -- a woman we know from Ras Atiya, since, once long ago, we were able to cross the Separation Barrier checkpoint there, (now no more) and join her in her home, to eat watermelon. Today, she still has her same job in Israel, she still pays 50 NIS a month for her work permit, good until the end of this year, but now she can no longer get near her village without coming through this gate and then taking a taxi from the other side all the way to Ras Atiya.  She is but one example of the continuous political and economic control over the Palestinian people by the Occupier.

On our way deeper into the Seam Zone, we take a small tour alongside Alfe Menashe, the settlement which proudly boasts advertisements for new housing on the road leading up to it, close to the sadness and poverty of the Bedouin community a few meters away. Just before the barred entryway to the settlement is a lookout which portrays only too well how the contours of the land have been gouged out to create the Separation Barrier, a roadway below and the "Wall" -- as high as the wall in Jerusalem, as a soldier once boasted to us -- above. The way the Separation Barrier curves as it does is clearly to demarcate the growing settlement and its expansionist plans to swallow up what remains of the Seam Zone.

 We drove to nablus CPs'

 Anabta
Traffic slows down as it crosses the intricate access point to Tulkarm, but there's not a soldier in sight.

 Jubara
A polite military policewoman speeds our way on to:

16:00 Irtah
Many people hurrying, good naturedly, to the terminal building where, unbelievably, all eight counters are open to service the few returning workers on this horribly hot day. A man, carrying a standing fan, struggles to get through the narrow turnstile to the hall inside, saying, good naturedly, "Well, it would be better to have air conditioning, but meanwhile…"  And only a few more hours to "iftar."

Summary
Our starting point is the Green Line, Route 6. East of it we are well
aware of notions   about the land being "disputed," "colonized" or
"separated." What is obvious on our tour are the combination of
apartheid, military occupation and colonization in a manner that must be
unique in the world! The upshot of the process of land acquisition and
demographic engineering is a sorry spectacle on the one hand, a human
tragedy on the other.

13:40 Habla
We arrive early at Gate 1393, firmly closed in the intense heat, as a
dozen or more men sit on the bench, waiting, in the boiling hot ex
container (from Zim shipping line, we wonder). The army arrives after
13:45, and then only two soldiers step from the Hummer as it hurries off
into the hot dust of the Separation Barrier.

13:55 -- the gates have still not opened, and the soldier, on our
complaining, says he cannot "open the gate on my own," that he is
awaiting another three...
When they do come, another five minutes wait, as they work in
excruciating slowness, while horse, donkey cart, tractor, bicycle and
about 20 male workers take their place to get through the Separation
Barrier. Just one woman -- a woman we know from Ras Atiya, since, once
long ago, we were able to cross the Separation Barrier checkpoint there,
(now no more) and join her in her home, to eat watermelon. Today, she
still has her same job in Israel, she still pays 50 NIS a month for her
work permit, good until the end of this year, but now she can no longer
get near her village without coming through this gate and then taking a
taxi from the other side all the way to Ras Atiya.  She is but one
example of the continuous political and economic control over the
Palestinian people by the Occupier.

On our way deeper into the Seam Zone, we take a small tour
alongside Alfe Menashe, the settlement which proudly boasts
advertisements for new housing on the road leading up to it, close to
the sadness and poverty of the Bedouin community a few meters away. Just
before the barred entryway to the settlement is a lookout which
portrays only too well how the contours of the land have been gouged out
to create the Separation Barrier, a roadway below and the "Wall" -- as
high as the wall in Jerusalem, as a soldier once boasted to us -- above.
The way the Separation Barrier curves as it does is clearly to
demarcate the growing settlement and its expansionist plans to swallow
up what remains of the Seam Zone.

Route 55
Nothing to report, a hidden military jeep off on the side of the
road at Al Funduk, and no signs of life, for now, at the outpost of
Shvut Ami near Qedumim.

Jit and the road to Beit Iba and Nablus
Nothing going on at the junction itself, but a surprising scene as cars,
taxis and even a Taneeb bus, are seen, coming down from the road to
Sarra. We decide to "explore." The road is wide open and where, once, in
the dim, distant past, four, five or more years ago, was a checkpoint
and trucks delivered water to the villages beyond, today the road is
wide open (and the villages, we know now have piped water, as does, and
did the settlement of Qedumim). The roadway is in good shape, and, near
its crest is a gorgeous view to the north and west, whereas just east of
us is Nablus, close by with smart looking new residential buildings
near where we turn around. At a junction, a brand new junction, well
laid out and engineered is a big sign that this road is made with the
help of US AID. Had we continued straight on, we would have been in the
center of Nablus. Instead, we drive down the steep asphalted (still
black) road, the live trees at its side made more silvery than ever with
the roadwork and summer dust, straight into the middle of what was once
the Beit Iba checkpoint. All is quiet, little traffic in the few hours
remaining before the end of Ramadan, the old kiosks all tightly closed
up: the whole setting, with the deserted quarry behind, looks like
something from the back set of a Hollywood movie. The closed Huwwash
Brothers' carpentry workshop sports an impressive looking new iron gate,
a new shopping parade, still not open, has been created  near Deir
Sharaf, and there are now some places selling inticately designed clay
pots alongside the road. At the mini market, we learn that the new road
we have just "explored" has been open only about four days.

Shavei Shomron
The newly paved Route 60 to Jenin, also courtesy of US AID, is now open
to traffic, and there's a checkpoint as for many years, at the crest of
the hill, outside the military base entryway to Shavei Shomron. Quite a
bit of traffic here. We note a large IDF tank parked not afar away
(empty), a "stretch" Hummer in front of us, barring the way up the
barricaded hillside, and as we make our way to turn back down the hill, a
gaggle of soldiers surrounds us. We learn from the commander that the
roadway is open although "they" are still working beyond the checkpoint
("there's nothing of interest there for Israeli Jews") that permits to
go to Homesh (the disengaged settlement may be reached: really?) At this
point, the commander from the "stretch" Hummer tries to ask more
aggressive questions and is shooed away and silenced by the commander
stationed at Shavei Shomron.

Anabta
Traffic slows down as it crosses the intricate access point to Tulkarm, but there's not a soldier in sight.

Jubara
A polite military policewoman speeds our way on to:

16:00 Irtah
Many people hurrying, good naturedly, to the terminal building where,
unbelievably, all eight counters are open to service the few returning
workers on this horribly hot day. A man, carrying a standing fan,
struggles to get through the narrow turnstile to the hall inside,
saying, good naturedly, "Well, it would be better to have air
conditioning, but meanwhile..."  And only a few more hours to "iftar."

Summary
Our starting point is the Green Line, Route 6. East of it we are well aware of notions   about the land being "disputed," "colonized" or "separated." What is obvious on our tour are the combination of apartheid, military occupation and colonization in a manner that must be unique in the world! The upshot of the process of land acquisition and demographic engineering is a sorry spectacle on the one hand, a human tragedy on the other.

13:40 Habla
We arrive early at Gate 1393, firmly closed in the intense heat, as a dozen or more men sit on the bench, waiting, in the boiling hot ex container (from Zim shipping line, we wonder). The army arrives after 13:45, and then only two soldiers step from the Hummer as it hurries off into the hot dust of the Separation Barrier.

13:55 -- the gates have still not opened, and the soldier, on our complaining, says he cannot "open the gate on my own," that he is awaiting another three...
When they do come, another five minutes wait, as they work in excruciating slowness, while horse, donkey cart, tractor, bicycle and about 20 male workers take their place to get through the Separation Barrier. Just one woman -- a woman we know from Ras Atiya, since, once long ago, we were able to cross the Separation Barrier checkpoint there, (now no more) and join her in her home, to eat watermelon. Today, she still has her same job in Israel, she still pays 50 NIS a month for her work permit, good until the end of this year, but now she can no longer get near her village without coming through this gate and then taking a taxi from the other side all the way to Ras Atiya.  She is but one example of the continuous political and economic control over the Palestinian people by the Occupier.

On our way deeper into the Seam Zone, we take a small tour alongside Alfe Menashe, the settlement which proudly boasts advertisements for new housing on the road leading up to it, close to the sadness and poverty of the Bedouin community a few meters away. Just before the barred entryway to the settlement is a lookout which portrays only too well how the contours of the land have been gouged out to create the Separation Barrier, a roadway below and the "Wall" -- as high as the wall in Jerusalem, as a soldier once boasted to us -- above. The way the Separation Barrier curves as it does is clearly to demarcate the growing settlement and its expansionist plans to swallow up what remains of the Seam Zone.

Route 55
Nothing to report, a hidden military jeep off on the side of the road at Al Funduk, and no signs of life, for now, at the outpost of Shvut Ami near Qedumim.

Jit and the road to Beit Iba and Nablus
Nothing going on at the junction itself, but a surprising scene as cars, taxis and even a Taneeb bus, are seen, coming down from the road to Sarra. We decide to "explore." The road is wide open and where, once, in the dim, distant past, four, five or more years ago, was a checkpoint and trucks delivered water to the villages beyond, today the road is wide open (and the villages, we know now have piped water, as does, and did the settlement of Qedumim). The roadway is in good shape, and, near its crest is a gorgeous view to the north and west, whereas just east of us is Nablus, close by with smart looking new residential buildings near where we turn around. At a junction, a brand new junction, well laid out and engineered is a big sign that this road is made with the help of US AID. Had we continued straight on, we would have been in the center of Nablus. Instead, we drive down the steep asphalted (still black) road, the live trees at its side made more silvery than ever with the roadwork and summer dust, straight into the middle of what was once the Beit Iba checkpoint. All is quiet, little traffic in the few hours remaining before the end of Ramadan, the old kiosks all tightly closed up: the whole setting, with the deserted quarry behind, looks like something from the back set of a Hollywood movie. The closed Huwwash Brothers' carpentry workshop sports an impressive looking new iron gate, a new shopping parade, still not open, has been created  near Deir Sharaf, and there are now some places selling inticately designed clay pots alongside the road. At the mini market, we learn that the new road we have just "explored" has been open only about four days.

Shavei Shomron
The newly paved Route 60 to Jenin, also courtesy of US AID, is now open to traffic, and there's a checkpoint as for many years, at the crest of the hill, outside the military base entryway to Shavei Shomron. Quite a bit of traffic here. We note a large IDF tank parked not afar away (empty), a "stretch" Hummer in front of us, barring the way up the barricaded hillside, and as we make our way to turn back down the hill, a gaggle of soldiers surrounds us. We learn from the commander that the roadway is open although "they" are still working beyond the checkpoint ("there's nothing of interest there for Israeli Jews") that permits to go to Homesh (the disengaged settlement may be reached: really?) At this point, the commander from the "stretch" Hummer tries to ask more aggressive questions and is shooed away and silenced by the commander stationed at Shavei Shomron.

Anabta
Traffic slows down as it crosses the intricate access point to Tulkarm, but there's not a soldier in sight.

Jubara
A polite military policewoman speeds our way on to:

16:00 Irtah
Many people hurrying, good naturedly, to the terminal building where, unbelievably, all eight counters are open to service the few returning workers on this horribly hot day. A man, carrying a standing fan, struggles to get through the narrow turnstile to the hall inside, saying, good naturedly, "Well, it would be better to have air conditioning, but meanwhile..."  And only a few more hours to "iftar."

Translation:  Suzanne O.

Summary: 
Two Bedouin tribes who stayed in the Alfei Menasheh enclave are so harassed that they are unable to attain even basic necessities - food (eggs and meat), kindergarten, calor gas canisters.  They are under constant pressure to abandon their lands (private lands legally owned by them) and move to Izbet Tabib.  All building works since 1967 are illegal. 

At the entrance to Chabala we were told that landowners are threatened from the other side of the fence that they will be refused entry by the Shabak and, in future, will be unable to cross over to their land (and then their land will be confiscated because it will be claimed that it is not cultivated).

These are two examples of the attempts to dispossess landowners in the area of the junction with the territories.

The situation of the Bedouin is particularly difficult.

We saw how the helplessness of the Palestinian labourers to obtain their legal wages is being taken advantage of.

The roadblock at Shevei Shomron on Road 60 to Jenin was opened to Palestinians two days ago.

We also visited friends at Anabta and Beit Dejan.

Sha'ar Chabala

7:00 - 7:35 am. 

On the other side of the gate in the direction of Chabala there are a lot of people.  We can't see exactly how many.  The gate opened 15 minutes ago.

4 - 5 people at a time are allowed into the inspection area and they leave after 3 - 4 minutes, and so on.

One of those crossing, a landowner in the juncture area, is concerned.  He has an agricultural permit but he is refused entry by the Shabak and he was told at the DCO that whoever does not hold a magnetic card (which are not granted to those refused by the Shabak) will not be allowed to cross.  Thus he will, de facto, lose the right to cultivate his land which will indirectly permit the civil administration to take it over.

We spoke to one of the labourers.  He works in Moshav Yarchiv (within walking distance of the gate) and is paid NIS100 for a day's work.

How lucky is the Yarchiv resident to live so close to the territories.  The minimum legal wage is about NIS160, apart from National Insurance, holiday, sick pay and the rest of the rights according to the laws of his country.  And who will dare to claim them from him?

7:50 - 8:45 a.m.  Remadin Tribe (in the Alfei Menasheh enclave)

Two Bedouin tribes are left in the enclave.  The second - Abu Fardeh tribe - has a mukhtar (Arabic head of village).

We talked to the owner of the grocery shop in Remadin.

They are refugees since 1948 from the Beer Sheba area.  They have about 100 dunams of land which are legally theirs

About a year ago the civil administration 'offered' to move them to Izbet Tabib.  They refused.

The village is considered illegal.  All building is prohibited.  Until about a year ago a blind eye was turned, now no building is permitted.  Most of the houses are built of corrugated iron.

Some of them work in Alfei Menasheh.  Some of them have sheep.  Once upon a time they all made a living from pasturing their sheep.

They get water from the industrial area of Alfei Menasheh.  Electricity - a generator, 5 hours a day, 3 at night.  And they live under boiling hot corrugated iron.  Food cannot be stored in refrigerators.

There are practically no commodities in the grocery shop apart from cigarettes.  In order to get commodities from Kalkilya the mukhtar has to get in touch 3 days in advance with a detailed list.  Then the grocery shop owner crosses at Sha'ar Eliahu (109) and is inspected in the inspection area.  Eggs and meat are not permitted to cross even for personal use. Even calor gas canisters have to be ordered in advance.  He asked us to find out what can be done to ease the problems he is confronted with at the Eliahu crossing.

UNWRA distributes basic food necessities every three months.

There is no kindergarten.  School is at Chabala and Ras a-Tira.

In this way they are slowly suffocated until they give in, are dispossed and cede their lands to the State of Israel and the settlers.

We went to the old Kalkilya roadblock to experience how easy it is these days to get into Kalkilya.

Nablus erea

Translation:  Suzanne O.

Chabla

6:50 a.m.

Some 40 people are queuing by the gate.  Every 5 minutes a group of 5 exits from the inspection.

We noticed that women were given preferential treatment by the residents.

Complaint:  3 residents from Chabla complained that they had to produce magnetic cards in order to leave the village; however, 2 of them were told that they were 'prohibited' by the Shabak or the police and refused a magnetic card.

They are not aware of who prohibits them or why.  One of them is married to an Israeli woman from Jaljulia who is bringing up their three children.

We gave them the telephone numbers of our activists who help those who are denied access.

Eliahu Crossing

7:25 a.m. 

Some 30 people are queuing under the awning.  They exit from the inspection in threes.  When asked they told us they had waited an hour and a half to cross.  According to some of them, the situation has worsened and the inspections are slower.

Ja'yus

8:15 a.m. 

The gate is still open and only two Palestinians are queuing: an older person and a youth.  Near them are two representatives of the Ecumenical Organisation A.A.P.P., both of them 'priests' (pastors).  The woman is South African and the man Swiss.  The Palestinian man complained that a soldier had taken his 'permit' away because it was given to him for a crossing that is no longer functioning.

Important information:  they told us about a Palestinian village by the name of 'Yanun' not far from Ja'us surrounded by settlements which are conspiring against them all the time.  We did not find a place with that name on the map.

News from the residents of A-Sharf - the road to Jenin is open.  We saw a considerable amount of traffic in both directions on this road.

Anabta

9:50 a.m. 

The road is open in both directions.  There is no queue.

Ma'avar Te'enim

10:05 a.m. 

We had a discussion with the commander of the crossing about the opening of the gate to Jubara, the road is barred by 3 barriers, and he suggested that we go to the roadblock on foot or drive to Taibeh and from there to the roadblock by car.

Due to the weather today, we waived the option of walking.