Falamiya North Checkpoint (914), Falamiya South Checkpoint (935)

05:30   The gate is still closed. The weather is cold and drizzly. Early comers sit on rocks, brewing coffee. They immediately offer us some.  It turns out that they are organizers for the May 1st strike that Zvia has reported.  The reason [for the strike?] is the late return from the fields.  The officer promised to return with a reply but so far had not done so.

05:45 The gate is opened and people enter in batches of five for checking and registering. One person said that recently 10,000 work permits were cancelled because of the intifada.  These people had no work and depended on jobs in Israel. Now they are unemployed and their situation is dire.

Altogether 60 people, 19 tractors with trailers, a car, a truck, donkeys, and a few bicycles entered. At 06:30  the gate was closed.  We left a bit earlier for Flamiya south.

Flamiya south, gate 935

06:30  The gate is open and farmers arrive constantly until 07:00.

Altogether 11 tractors with trailers, one truck, and 50 people entered.  One tractor was forced to return to unload 4 sacks of sheep's manure, for which there was no permit.

At 07:00 the gate was closed.