'Azzun, Falamiya North Checkpoint (914), Jayyus, Khirbet 'Isla Checkpoint) 1231
Agricultural gates
: Falamiya, Jayyus North, Jayyus South,'Isla, 'Azzun.
Summary: Ramadan is in the air. Almost no one outside of their houses at this hour. Very few people going to work. The army opens and closes Gates all along the route, north to south.
6:00 Falamiya 914
The gate opens late. Laziness. It seems that most people would prefer to sleep in today. Conversation about the sea. Kfar Jamal is organizing a trip to the sea and they are talking to us about their fears. Women are afraid to go out without their husbands, one of the husbands says. The story which broke our hearts was about a donkey who disappeared. The one that appeared in a photo last week in the colorful field. He disappeared. They say that he smelled something and decided to track it down. Today there is another donkey, on the same red carpet. A worker looks in the direction of the soldiers and asks us: "where else in the world does a farmer need a permit from the army to get to his field?" He looks and chuckles a big chuckle. Sad.
6:30 Jayyus North
A woman on the shovel of a tractor. (photo)
7:07 Jayyus South
No one. The military jeep waits...no one comes. The fields of za'atar are conspicuous in their intensity.
7:20 Khirbet 'Isla
Two people go through. the soldiers close up. On our way back, we meet a youth walking in the direction of the checkpoint.. We go back to find out what will happen to him. We find other people waiting. A father with 2 sons, with a donkey and wagon. Within a few minutes, the jeep arrives again. He opens the gate for them, jokes with the Palestinian. When we ask him, the soldier says he has some instinct about the Palestinians. They go out, and they close, and the solution is in the hands of god.
8:00 Azzun
The streets are empty. Clean. A deep monologue with one of the villagers who explains to us that we can't understand anything about their life under occupation and within Palestinian society.