'Anabta, Ar-Ras, Eliyahu Crossing, Jubara (Kafriat), Qalqiliya, Mon 6.7.09, Morning
Translation: Galia S.
Overall
No free passage through the checkpoints at the entrance to Nablus and Tulkarm. In fact, the only checkpoint where passage is free is at the entrance to Qalqiliya.
Ras Atiya
06:40 – The checkpoint is open and people pass there quite fast, but there are still complains from people worried about the future. They wonder what will happen after the new fence is set up and they will be cut off of their fields.
Eliyahu Passage
07:10 – Only few workers are at the exit. The passage is without problems.
Qalqiliya
07:20 – Free passage. The soldiers stand guard over the place from a post outside the checkpoint area. A cause for celebration: Today again there is a truck here loading more concrete cubes. The checkpoint definitely looks as if it is about to be dismantled.
Shvut Ami
07:45 – The shed that was here of Thursday has been dismantled and there are no people in the area. Further on, after Jit, there is a big vegetable garden in the wadi, around which are a lot of scarecrows and Palestinians picking cucumbers – what a pastoral sight.
Anabta
09:00 – Congratulations! The new checkpoint is open and operating. A grand checkpoint has been built here, but the passage, like it always has been, is still subject to the soldier's hand gesture. A free passage is practically non-existent and apart from the checkpoint structure at the expense of the Palestinians' groves and the improved conditions of the soldiers, there is no improvement whatsoever.
There are 5 lanes. One of them has a gate and it is closed for traffic and there are 2 lanes for each direction. In the direction of Tulkarm, only one lane is manned and although the traffic light is green all the time, the Palestinians stop in front of the checkpoint and wait for the soldier's hand gesture, just to be on the safe side. They are right. Whoever moves too much forward gets the "stop" hand gesture and is allowed to pass only after some time, depending on the whim of the soldier who is on the phone most of the time while "working".
There are two manned posts in the direction of Nablus, but most of the time only one operates and here, too, every car has to wait for the soldier's hand gesture before it is allowed to pass.
In both directions there are lines every now and then.
09:10 – A police vehicle that checks Israeli cars, arrives. They delay an entire family – father, mother and children.
Jubara
09:35 – The gate to the village opens without any problems. The checkpoint at the exit from the village is open and we see young people pass without delays.
Ar-Ras checkpoint no longer exists.