Falamiya and Hable - pedestrians pass everywhere

There are corridors open for pedestrians at the checkpoints so that it is possible to go through at any time during the day.  The checkpoint at Jayyus is being renovated;  there is a structure being built there that looks as though it would be for people with "smart cards" to go through at any hour (according to the army spokesman). 

Since the owner of the grocery in Kufr Jamal told us that the gates are totally open and soldiers no longer arrive, we sat with him relaxedly, with cups of tea and coffee and we arrived at the Falamiya checkpoint 914 after the opening hour.  But it turned out that the information we had received was not accurate.  There is free passage for pedestrians - the fence is destroyed, and thus there is indeed free passage for pedestrians at all hours of the day, but there is not free passage for tractors and cars and the soldiers need to open the gates as usual.  A man who was working in the field next to the gate explained that the soldiers arrive, but not always on time.

We continued to the Jayyus checkpoint 935 and there the fence had been repaired and a small building added with a turnstyle and lights which can go on and off and it is possible that a smart card reader will be installed there, as the army spokesman had told us at the Knesset meeting.  Right now it looks like the old buildings with turnstiles for checking ID cards.  Meanwhile, there is nothing which can operate the crossing and, since we were not there while the soldiers were there, we couldn't see what is actually happening there.  Anyway, the gate for vehicles remains the same, closed, and also on top of it some electrical device  with lights had been added, not clear why.  We will continue to follow this up.

We continued to the Hablah checkpoint 1393, after 15:00.  Again, not at the opening hour.  There is an open passage in the fences and a stream of workers returning from Israel were going through freely.  It seems that the army decided that there was no sense in preventing workers from going to work in Israel.  Politically, that is certainly better for managing the state when Palestinians have work and they are not protesting and not stewing in their own juices at home.. The gate for vehicles was closed and they can pass through to the nurseries only during the hours that the soldiers open it (3 times a day for about half an hour).