Habla, Imatin, Nabi Ilyas

Translation: Tal H.

Nabi Eliyas 10:00

A Hebrew class was taught by Nirit. Five women and a young man took part. They practiced their vocabulary, asked each other questions and gave answers. They were amused and laughed a lot.

Imatin 10:30

A Hebrew class was taught, ten women took part. Three of them were with their little children. These sat quietly and played with pens and pencils. We spoke a bit about the English class that was given last Thursday afternoon. The girls enjoyed it a lot, as did their mothers. They were impressed with Adam who knows Arabic, even reads and writes it. After our talk we practiced reading. The newcomers participated as well. I gave out reading sheets for them to prepare for next week.  Then we had a conversation using mostly familiar words, and at their request we practiced translating. The hour went by quickly.

11:30 - Yoga class, about an hour long, given by Sarah. The practice is difficult and requires physical and mental effort. Sarah very calmly and pleasantly explains and demonstrates, the women watch her and follow. We admired their flexibility and determination to carry out the exercises.

Road 55, back to Nabi Eliyas, 12:45 -

The entrance to Azzun and Izbat Tabib villages was open. Close to Izbat Tabib we noticed an army jeep driving eastbound.

Habla Checkpoint 13:00 - The gate opened 10 minutes late.  A large number of people stood waiting on the Palestinian side, several vehicles and three donkey-driven carts loaded with green grass watedby the checkpoint on the other side. We wpoke with a woman from Ras Atiya who said she'd been waiting for 3 hours by the gate, since 10 a.m. She was visibly exhausted and bitter about having to wait so long. She said that because of the dry weather and lack of downfall she had to make her way from the village to the nurseries. She crossed the gate with her young son at 6:30 a.m., to load green wild grass on the cart, to fed the donkey. She has no other way of feeding it. She cannot understand why she has to wait for the gate to open.