'Anabta, Ar-Ras, Jubara (Kafriat), Mon 4.8.08, Afternoon
Jubara, Ar-Ras
13:20 – A soldier stops his work immediately in order to open the entrance gate to the village of Jubara for us. "What goes on?" the soldier asks on his way to the gate, "Don't you have a fixed schedule? Your friends have already been here twice today." When we come back he wants to know how his friends are doing and complains about the bullet-proof vest saying that after 12 hours at the checkpoint he has had enough of it.
Two soldiers at the Schoolchildren's Checkpoint, Gate 753, check the documents of a driver and a passenger of a car at the entrance to the village and gesture them to wait. A few minutes later the car continues on its way to the village while we leave for Ar-Ras checkpoint. Soldiers man all the posts at Ar-Ras checkpoint. There is scarcely any traffic. Three cars come from the direction of Qalqiliya and two from that of Tulkarm and pass without delays.
Anabta
14:20 – The figs market beside the road that leads to the checkpoint is flourishing. There are soldiers at all the posts. One soldier is at the southern checkpoint, two at the northern one and another soldier is at the post west of the road. Few cars pass in both directions. At the entrance every car that passes stops near the soldier who wants to know where from and where to and after a short answer goes on its way. A bus full of children is on the way to Tulkarm. The children wave to us and the soldier gestures to the driver to go on. The cars that leave Tulkarm aren't stopped, either.