Beit Furik, Huwwara, Kifl Harith, Shomron Crossing, Visits to Villages, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sun 13.10.13, Morning

9:30 We entered the territories through the Shomron Gate. All was quiet there.

At the Ariel Junction we turned to Kifl Harith. We drove through Qira, Zeita Jama'in, Jama'in, Einabus to Urif.  Last year, during the olive harvest I had taken photos of a nice family harvesting olives together. Now I wanted to give them the photos, but I had lost the name of the family. We drove through Urif showing the pictures to different people until we finally came to the family home. The young mother in the photos was very happy to receive them. Everyone we talked to in the village was very friendly and helpful. All of the villages looked quiet and peaceful. This year the olive harvest is small and most of it has been completed. We saw a few groups of harvesters in the groves.

We drove back through Einabus to Huwwara to the checkpoint where nothing has changed. The traffic in and out of Nablus was moving. From there we went past Beit Furik to the entrance to Beit Dajan, to our favorite valley. The entire area is dry and yellow. The land, the herds and the people are  all waiting for the rain to come so that plowing and sowing the winter crops can begin. Nadim spoke to a passing taxi driver. He said the area was mostly quiet but some settlers had thrown a rock at his taxi few days earlier.

At the entrance to Beita, about 100 meters off the main road to Huwwara, a temporary checkpoint had been set up. There were 6 soldiers checking cars going in both directions,and long lines of cars were waiting to go through. The drivers didn't know the reason for the checkpoint.

From Huwwara we went to Za'atra (Tapuach Junction) and saw that soldiers were checking the cars coming from Nablus. At the Shomron Gate the guards waved us through with no questions asked.