'Anata-Shu'afat, Al-Ezariya, Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal)

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Issawiyya:

 

The situation remains pretty much the same at the three checkpoints leading into and out of Issawiyya.

 

 At the Mt. Scopus exit, there seemed to be more personnel than usual.  When we were there, it was quite windy, and since there is little if any garbage collection in Issawiyya, the heaps of trash were blowing all over (knowing no barriers) and the entire area was strewn. 

 

The exit to French Hill was unchanged.  There is only one lane open to vehicles going in and out which is a minor inconvenience in mid day and a real bother in early morning and late afternoon. 

 

The third exist from Issawiyya, leading on to the road to Maaleh Adumim is unmanned.  There too, traffic can go only single file in either direction.

 

At the Anata checkpoint, there is now a large area set aside for buses.  Traffic to and from the area was moving smoothly.

 

There have been some changes on the road from Azariah to Wadi Naar.  There is extensive construction on the right hand side of the road where squeezed a large Bedouin camp once was, but the Bedouin are being into a smaller and smaller area.  Is this the first stage of  construction in E1? 

 

For whatever reason, all the signs along the way have been removed, and the road leading to Wadi Naar is blocked off.  All vehicles must use the one way road leading down from Wadi Naar, and we decided that there was a bit too risky to maneuver that road.