'Anabta, Huwwara, Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim), Jubara (Kafriat), Za'tara (Tapuah), Mon 16.11.09, Afternoon
14:52 Za'tara Junction:
The junction is almost empty of vehicles in all directions. On the road from Nablus there are 4 cars.
15:00 Huwarra:
There is a line of perhaps 30 vehicles coming out of Nablus; the line goes back as far as we could see. The soldiers had stopped one car, were questioning the driver, so all the other vehicles just lined up and waited. Very soon the whole line began to move and they went through quite quickly. They seemed to be doing random checking
; a minibus was stopped for 2 minutes and then another car.
There was nothing at the Burin (Yitzhar) junction.
15:55 Anabta:
There were 5 or 6 cars coming out from Tul Karem, moving through easily. Most of the vehicles going into the city went straight through; a car with an Israeli license plate was stopped for a minute and then went on.
On the road to Jubara Checkpoint as we passed the settlement Enav, we noticed two large water sprinklers watering a field at the foot of the hill. One sprinkler was not working right, was not turning, and the heavy stream of water was simply running into the same spot and forming a rivulet. It seems that the settlers have plenty of water to waste!
16:10 Jubara Checkpoint:
The checkpoint was almost empty. There were 2 Israeli busses stopped at the side to go out to Israel; we could see Arab women and girls in the busses. Nadim said it was most likely an outing of Israeli Palestinian women to Nablus for shopping.
16:15 Irtach Checkpoint:
The line of workers waiting to go through the turnstile was not too long, about 30 men. A few women came to the turnstile and were allowed by the men to go straight through. Two terminals were working inside, but there was no crowding or pushing. Then many more workers arrived and the crowding began.
At 16:30 a third terminal was opened inside and more men went through, but the line was now at least a hundred people. "Is this logical? Is this fair?" they asked us. "All we want is to go home to eat and rest after a day's work." But most complaints were about what happens in the morning. They have to be at the checkpoint at 4:00 am in order to get to work by 8:00 am!
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