'Azzun 'Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Jayyus, Mon 13.2.12, Morning
06:18 – 'Azzun 'Atma
The day dawned , and on the side of the road, opposite the CP, more than 100 of this country's builders, maintainers and the enhancers of its growth, are huddled in groups, some sitting around fires that have been lit in order to some extent drive the morning chill away . They are waiting for the arrival of the landlords and masters, in order to begin their working day at 07:00. A conversation with a few workers---a random group---- reveals that workmen at Elkana arrive from Kussara and El-Halil and their way to the settlement passes through Tapuah (that's how one of them called the CP), near Bidia and by 'Azzun 'Atma. "Today the CP is alright" they say. It took a quarter of an hour to pass it. Yesterday was bad. They had to wait for two hours. They arrive early because they don't know what will happen at the CP, and how the soldiers will act.
The two children who sell coffee to the waiting people, one of whom seems to be not older than 6 (!) finish their work at about 06:30. And now to school? (judging by the satchel on the back of one of them it seems that they are pupils). When do they get up in the morning in order to help supporting the family? The life of children under the occupation.
At the CP itself there is no queue. Those who arrive at the CP pass immediately by the turnstiles, present their IDs and join the waiting.
06:44 We left.
07:01 Habla.
The CP is open. From the direction of Habla there are about 30 people waiting, a number which did not decrease all the time we were present as more and more people arrived all the time.
People enter the checking booth in groups of five and stay there there from 2 to 6 minutes.
07:10 – A school bus arrives and five minutes later another bus. The former busses were exchanged for new ones, coloured a deep pink.
8-9 minutes later the busses pass.
A man who arrived at the CP with a duffel bag is asked by a military policewoman to spread its contents on the wet ground while his card was held by one of the soldiers. The man goes back in the direction of Habla and a few minutes later arrives with a plastic bag instead of the duffel bag. Again the contents or the bag have to be removed and this time he is "kosher" to pass. But where is the ID card? He goes to one of the soldiers. Does he have it? No. He returns to the woman soldier. Oh, yes, she rummages in her pockets and lifts the card from one of them.
07:43 – We left.
07:51 – Eliyahu Passage. About 20 people are still waiting in the queue westwards.
We drove to Jayyus and talked with the taxi drivers. Yesterday between 00:30 and 02:00 (again) the army entered the village and stopped three young men, one of them the son of the head of the local council. A well known chronicle of arrest-trial-fine-imprisonement…
A., one of the drivers tells us about the repeated scheming by the settlers and the police. We suggested to him to let "Yesh Din" take care of the legal aspect of this.
On the way back to our comfortable existence we stopped at the coffee wagon "Kapitsch"(at the plant nursery on the northern side, opposite the turning to the Habla CP). Highly recommended! In a conversation which developed there we learned that for the last two months Palestinians who have a permit to work at Alfey Menashe, are required to pass through the Eyal CP, and only the owners of the lands and the plant nurseries are those who pass through the Eliyahu passage