'Azzun 'Atma, Qira

Kira,’Azzun ‘Atma.

We arrived at 10:00.  A little later, a group of women arrived and Yehudit engaged them in a knitting lesson. Two of the women brought their little children to the meeting.  Some of the women wanted to learn knitting and some sat on the side, chatting with others.  A little later, A. arrived, and displayed impressive knowledge of knitting.  Another woman proudly produced a very pretty pink blanket out of her bag, and told us that her grandmother knitted it.  I used this time to demonstrate to the women a massage treatment for the neck and skull . They were very interested.  A nice, friendly atmosphere existed in the group;  the women said that they usually met together at their homes, taking turns.  We told the group that starting next week our friend, Sarah, would also come and teach yoga.  At the previous meeting they had requested our help in doing physic

‘Azzun ‘Atmacheckpoint

We drove on highway #5, passed the Shomron Gate and turned off at the agricultural gate near Oranit.  On the northern side one could see Palestinian farmers working in the herb fields.  We got to the gate at 12:15, since we knew that the checkpoint would open at 12:30.  Two men were sitting under a tree about 20 meters from there, along with 2 children about 10 years old.  There was a car parked in front of them, where a Palestinian woman was sitting and waiting.  At 12:30 we still didn't see tproached the Palestinians politely.  When they told him that they had been waiting for ten minutes, he called the people he military police jeep that was supposed to come and open the gate.  At 12:40 an army jeep came.  An officer got out and apwho wepeople responsible for opening the checkpoint.re responsible for opening the gate, and drove away;  but he came back ten minutes later.  We went over to him, and, when he asked, we identified ourselves as members of MachsomWatch and he apologized for the delay, and again tried to call the 

Only at 13:08 did a military police jeep finally appear to open the checkpoint.  Beyond the gate, in the direction of

‘Azzun ‘Atma and the settlement of Sha'arei Tikvah, 4 private vehicles were waiting, a van and a tractor, a donkey tied to a cart and about 20 Palestinians, among whom were 3 women.  We left the checkpoint at 13:20.