'Azzun 'Atma, Habla, Ras 'Atiya, Fri 22.1.10, Morning

We set out with Dalia and Zvia for a track including the enclave to the villages surrounding Alfey Menashe, agricultural gates, checkpoints at the entrance to villages, checkpoint on main roads, and we saw the people, stayed at their homes and listened.

The village of Tilath – we met an acquaintance of Dalia (I prefer not to mention his name) who took us via a muddy and tortuous raod to the shut agricultural gate which separates him from his orchard. All along the road he pointed out the milestones with new numbers marked on them in red and blue, or according to his definition: "Ygal arrived with soldiers and they begin marking numbers on the stones for the purpose of paving a road". 

We saw the despair on his face, we heard the helplessness in his voice – the meaning of the new marking is another land expropriation, is the inability to reach what will remain in his possession of his olive orchard, which today too he can reach only when the army decided to open the gate.

We were invited for a cup of coffee in the house of the van driver, we sat with his family and heard a lot of anger and bitterness directed also at the leadership of the Authority.

Saniriya – We went through the main road of the village, everybody who passed there waved towards us in greeting. At the outskirts of the village, on a side road, beyond unclear fences, a military commander could be seen. We crossed the muddy road in order to understand who or what he is in charge there, and discovered delusionary sight where the command-car, to which a sort of agricultural instrument was attached in order to conceal the path, drove back and forth, the soldiers outside, fences on both its sides (so that we couldn't reach the soldiers in order to try and understand the purpose of the sight we were witness to). 

Sha'ar Tikva CP – A few cars are waiting, first the drivers are checked outside of the vehicle, and only after it is established that they have a permit to enter, their vehicle is checked. For some reason were were not allowed to enter Azzun Atma – The checkpoint commander made it clear that he had a problem authorizing our entrance. 

Ras Attiya – While we were waiting for an acquaintance of Dalia on the streed of the village, were entered into a conversation with the local people. There was one unauthorized person (R.) who cannot sustain his family, cannot get work permits, while the agricultural land that he had owned had been confiscated.

Again  many complaints about the Authority "the money arrives and the Authority takes it for itself". Every day there are new regulations – an old man who transfers vegetables to his house from the Kalkilya area, told us. The day before he chanced upon an officer called Daniel who left him two options – "either you return the vegetables, or return yourself".

Habala – agricultural gate 1393 – we had coordinated with A. to meet at the gate according to the hours of its opening.
The life in the village of Habala which is close to the Green line, is conducted according to the hours of the opening and closing of the gate. The soldiers arrive three time a day, morning, noon and evening, to direct the movement of the village people.

This week the computer crashed and about forty people were obliged to trundle to the DCO at Kalkilya, only because the soldiers were to lazy to update the manual list of people leaving the village, when the computer functioned again.

Such a visit at the DCO takes about half a working day and fifty shekel for the trip back and forth in a taxi (which is the most feasible was to reach Kalkilya).