Beit Furik, Eliyahu Crossing, Huwwara, Shomron Crossing, Sun 27.10.13, Morning

09:30  We entered the territories through the Shomron Gate. Everything was quiet and normal. At 09:35 I received a telephone call from a Palestinian friend. He didn't know that I was in Palestine that morning and, perhaps he wanted to ask me something. But we hardly talked for 30 seconds when he said, "A soldier here at Za'atra is telling me not to talk on the phone! What law is there that says that I cannot talk on my telephone?!"  Then I heard some noise and the phone went dead. I tried to call him back but his telephone didn't respond.

We drove through Kifl Harith, Qira, Jama'in and 'Einabus. We were hoping to find families harvesting olives, but we could see that in that area the harvesting was over.

Then I got another call from my friend. Here's his story: "The soldier didn't just tell me to stop talking on my phone, he hit my hand so that the phone fell to the ground. Then he took the phone, my ID card, and the papers that were in my hand. He told me to come with him into the center area and to stand there. After waiting for a few minutes an officer came up to me and began to ask me questions about why I was there. I told him the story. He called the soldier over, told him to return my telephone, ID card, and papers. He told the soldier that it was very impolite of him to hit my hand in order to take my phone from me and that there is nothing wrong with a Palestinian talking on his phone. Then he told me I was free to go. Now I'm on my way to my work in Salfit."  We were happy to hear that there are officers who educate their soldiers to treat the Palestinians in a fair and humane way.

Huwwara checkpoint was the same as always. We saw one soldier walking to the watchtower by the road into and out of Nablus. Another soldier was in the guard tower at the turn to Beit Furik. But we saw no other activity; all was normal, as usual. We went to the entrance to Beit Dajan. The valley was empty, a yellow-brown color. All creatures, animals and humans, are waiting for rain so that a new growing season can begin. We saw a military jeep at the entrance to Burin, but no activity.

We left the territories through the Eliyahu Gate.