Eliyahu Crossing, Eyal Crossing, Habla, Wed 12.1.11, Morning

Translation: Hanna K. 

06:15 – Eyal Crossing. A great crowd of workmen. Some go out to their employers and some wait.

06:26 – Zufin Gate (Gate No. 1037). About 20 people are waiting at a distance of about 150 meters from the CP. There are no employers on the other side, therefore workmen are not allowed to pass. From time to time the girl soldier at the CP shouts to them "Lawara" (go back) when she things that they approach too much. A soldier with a Russian accent arrives and tells them to stand behind the fence to that "the jeep which will pass won't run you over". Agricultural appliances pass after being checked. Very many Israeli cars pass. The soldiers claim that they don't let people pass to the other side until their employer will arrive so that "they won't explode there". A bus driver of "The Society for the Development of Samaria" slows down and makes on his throat a sign of being slaughtered for us to see.

06:45 –Employers arrive and soldiers begin letting the workpeople pass. One goes up to the window of the shed to be checked , another waits at a distance of about 50 meters until he is summoned to approach, and the third waits on the other side of the road.

07:20 – Eliyahu Crossing. Only 3 people wait in the queue to be checked.

07:25 – Habla Gate. 2 busses with children pass quickly. According to the people who go through the gate was opened at 07:15 because the lock was stuck and they went to fetch instruments to break it open, but the soldiers were there already at 06:30. It is difficult to count the people waiting. It seems there are 20-30, but they continue coming all the time. The soldiers let them pass in groups of five, and the checking for five takes 3 minutes. In the queue a fight breaks out between the waiting people, and the soldiers push them back again and again, threaten and then fulfill their threat – they don't let them pass until they are arranged behind the fence. Three volunteers of EAPPI are on the other side of the CP. One of them, Mary, comes to chat with us.  We asked to transfer a request to send volunteers to Zufin as well. There too there are passage problems in the mornings.

08:10 - A jeep with soldiers arrives. A major gets down and orders us to pass on to the other side of the fence because we are standing at a military zone which is forbidden . Moreover we disturb the soldiers' work by standing there. He threatened to call the police if we don't move to where he orders us to move. In the meantime he stopped the passage of the Palestinians as a punishment. The police didn't arrive but we moved so that the Palestinians shouldn't be detained. By the major's order the  soldiers close the gates on both sides of the road to a very narrow opening which hardly allows a very thin man to pass.

08:35 – While we were still arguing a posh black car with a white number plate arrived from the Israeli side. In it was a person who looked like an office holder at the Authority, and his driver. They descended from the car in order to be checked and pass on, but the major told them bluntly that they should wait as long as it was necessary until the soldiers would find time for them, and our argument with the soldiers too extended the waiting time – so they got on their car and went back.

08:50 – The last group of five is waiting to be checked . We left. .