'Anabta, 'Azzun 'Atma, Deir Sharaf, Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Mon 27.8.12, Morning

06:15  Azun Atmeh

A man in civilian dress was sitting at the checkpoint, t-shirt, not a uniform, and people said that he is a policeman and is inspecting those who have already gone through.  He got here on a civilian motorcycle.  He came over to talk and it turned out that he was a Border Guard volunteering forthe police.  He told us that today he is acting as a detective.  He lives in Oranit and seemed very young. Strange.  And indeed, once in a while he went out on the motorcycle along
the fence and looked for people who had got through holes in the fence illegally.  We didn't see him bring anyone to the gate.
About 70 people in line, a little shorter than usual, but it might look that way because the line is now more circular, as the fence which used to hold the line in order and narrow has disappeared.  Now the soldiers responsible for security at the checkpoint are female.
According to the locals, they are much stricter, shout and are not pleasant to the people.  4 people sitting next to the gate.  The female soldiers said that they When one of them got up to smoke, the checkpoint commander warned
him about the smoking and commanded him to sit down, in a very disagreeable way. Time goes by and the line is no shorter, as more people keep arriving. We timed a man who arrived with us and it took him 25 minutes to go through There were only 2 inspection stations today.
06:55  The gate leading to the road to Sha'ar Tamar The last of the people arrive from the gate and are standing here.
(something missing here)  The soldiers shut the gate and are waiting for the last people who went out and are about to arrive at the gate on the road ; then they also close this gate.  That was supposed to happen only at 7:00 but it seems that they saw that there were no more people, so they shut it early, which they shouldn't do since whoever arrives at Sha'ar Tamar at 06:47 for example, won't be able to go through even though the gate was supposed to be still open.  From the road one can see work going on for the new fence, which is destroying more orchards, some of which will also still
be left outside the fence!
07:15  Habla
The gate is open and people are going through.  Also here there are female soldiers on guard duty at the gate.  Wagon drivers and a car which wanted to go through to Habla were sent back to the inspection station to go to theHabla Gate and then to return and pick up the wagon and the car; absurd.  In the past, they always exited back from the entrance gate to the station and shortened the distance this way - but "there must be order, seen and done". The passing is very slow.
A man who arrived from our direction to go into Habla has been waiting a long time until they decide to allow him to go into the inspection station, even though he was alone at the time.  for the sake of "order".  When a man is waiting next to the gate, in order to enter Habla, it seems that the military policewoman must show him who makes decisions here and sends him back, closing the pedestrian gate demonstratively; now those coming in must go back and open the bolt every time, simply harassment.
07:45  Eliyahu Gate
We tried to go through the Gate by foot to the other side of the passageway, but a guard arrived immediately and claimed that it was forbidden for us to do that, and then the manager of the passageway came out running, Mr. Levi, and angrily announced to us that he does not allow people wandering around "his" check point.  The passageway is "sterile".  It wasn't worth arguing with him, so we went through the checkpoint by car and stopped on the other side. But it was difficult to see from there what was happening in the pedestrian line, which was short, only about 10 people.  We decided that,
the next time, we would come here earlier to see how things are going.
We went to Dir Sharaf to see what was new, if anything, about the road to Jenin - all was quiet and, according to our friend from the shop, there were no problems...
09:00  Anabta checkpoint
Open and no soldiers around.  Maybe they were in the guard tower, but we couldn't see. Further down the road to Safrin they were working.  Everything seemed to be covered with new asphalt and it seems they are paving it.  We entered the
road leading from Shufa Ilit to Shufa Tahtit, in order to see what is new - the road was open, but the level of its upkeep was awful, full of potholes.