Beit Amin Checkpoint (1447), Habla Checkpoint (1393)
A calm occupation routine with one ray of light
16:30 Beit Amin Checkpoint 1447
A group of people is already waiting in the shed. When they will see the approaching military jeep they will come immediately out and will fall in outside in a line, waiting for the soldiers to organize themselves and begin checking and registering them.
16:40 The jeep arrives and at 16:45 the checking begins as planned. Among others there is a tractor with a towed vehicle, in which there are about ten kid goats aged about three weeks which, as it seems, have come to an age where they can leave their mothers. It seems the mothers are allowed to dwell in the Seam Zone. Because of communication problems we were unable to clarify the point. A number of women pass too. Some arrived at the CP from their plantations in a Palestinian vehicle which serves as a taxi, in addition to driving to the owner's plantation where he works. That's because most of the farmers are obliged to march more kilometers from the CP back to their plantations as no checkpoints which are near the plantations are opened. Thus the farmers of three villages which are remote one from the other (Azun Atma,Beit Amin, Izbat Salaman) are forced to pass by the same checkpoint.
The proceeding passes quietly and at 17:10 the soldiers go to shut the gate.
We go back to the Oranit CP along the fence and meet and elderly man who goes toward the gate which has already been closed. We explain this to him and he seems very worried and at loss. We lingered trying to find a solution for him. We took him with us part of the way and in the end, with the help of a military patrol (reservists of course) he got a lift to the Habla gate where he passed after the military policeman rebuked him.
We reached the Habla CP at 17:45. When we asked whether the old man who marched on foot had arrived the answer was "We cannot give you any information and we are not allowed to cooperate with you" all this expressed in an admonitory tone. A minute later the military patrol arrived and our friend descended from it. So there are soldiers and there are others…
18:00 The gate was closed and no people waiting to pass remained