Deir Sharaf, Mon 1.6.09, Morning

7:25  Shvut Ami has been "evacuated," but there's a wooden structure on the side of the hill.  An army Hummer is parked on the side on a dirt path.

7:30  Jit junction is clear and traffic flows freely but here too there's an army Hummer parked on the roadside, ready for action...

7:35  Deir Sharaf (Barrels) checkpoint

Free passage into Nablus.  Cars leaving are checked by the roadside, which allows those not selected for inspection to continue through freely.  No dog handler.

A man and woman are reaping the harvest with a sickle in a field next to the checkpoint, and gathering it into sheaves by hand.

A driverless car with an Israeli plate is parked outside the checkpoint.  A taxis arrives later from Nablus with an Israeli Palestinian woman who stayed with relatives in Nablus and returned by taxi. 

Cars are inspected thus:  There are always two cars by the roadside, one being inspected and the second waiting its turn.  When a car is stopped for inspection at the entrance to Nablus a long line forms immediately, but it rapidly disappears.

The telephone number of the DCO is printed in red on the concrete barriers that indicate where the checkpoint starts.

8:15  We leave.