'Anabta, 'Azzun, Qalqiliya, Thu 7.5.09, Afternoon
Overall:
Along road 55 there are a lot of big
signs saying "Judea and Samaria, The home of every Jew, the Bureau
of Information". The signs show directions to different sites in
the area, such as: 'Erets Israel College" and Wadi Qana".
The country is being conquered again and again.
14:00 – Cars enter and leave the city
without delays. We stay 10 minutes to watch the proceedings and go on.
14:17 – At Azzun the passage is open.
Anabta
No passage for pedestrians at the checkpoint.
It is obvious that the works at the checkpoint aim at making it more
organized – traffic islands, curbstones etc.
16:12 – There are no cars at the exit
from Tulkarm. Cars that arrive pass quickly without delays. On the other
hand, the longer we stay there, the longer the line of cars entering
the city gets.
There is only one inspection post for
entering cars. According to our measuring at different points in time,
it takes a car 12-15 minutes from the moment it gets to the line until
it continues after a short stop near the inspecting soldier.
Once in a while, pedestrians arrive from
the direction of the junction, carrying bags of clothes (by the green
bag of Mega, one can see that the green trend has reached this place,
too). They try to negotiate with the soldiers but the latter insist that
they get into a car. To tell the truth, at one time a soldier turned
to one of the drivers and arranged for the pedestrians transportation
to the city.
Twice we called the Humanitarian Center
(Shai and Noi) asking them to do something about the long line. We also
tried to find out why cars that enter the city are checked. The Humanitarian
Center didn't have an answer.
17:20 – We leave.
The traffic lights on road 444, close
to Eyal interchange, are the cause of the line, much longer than the
one at Anabta, of the numerous cars that go north at these hours. Not
that it is any consolation.