Habla - the horse is allowed through only when harnessed to a cart

Opening hours 13:20-1420

The occupation routine. A horse is sent back with its owner because it is only allowed for a horse to pass when it is harnessed to a cart!

13:20 The gate is open. It seems it has been opened just now.

It is again allowed to transfer through it plants as well as cargo intended for the plant nurseries. This is an important facilitation for the plant nursery owners. It is not necessary any more to pass through the Eliyahu passage. The passage is quick enough and for pedestrians it is done by girl soldiers at the watch post, the checking facility does not operate. The passage seems in order and quick enough.

The persons passing from the Israeli side gather at the soldiers’ post and are requested to return. They are standing behind the gate whose one wing is closed (not locked), and they pass their certificates through the fence to the girl soldiers. A’ arrives to organize the passage. A young man wishes to pass from Habla in the direction of the plant nurseries but his is prohibited by the General Security Service (Shabak). A’ told us later that he had told him not to try to pass as his permit would be taken from him, and promised to deal with the matter with the Shabak within a few days. The young man did not listen to A’s advice and didn’t wait for him, tried to pass and his permit was taken from him. He waited for quite a long time near the soldiers and tries to convince them. Finally a girl soldier filled in a form for him and sent him to the DCO at Qalqiliya. Then he left.

A man with a mare arrived, wanted to pass with it. He is a Bedouin belonging to a tribe living nearby in the seamline zone, but he has no passage permit for a horse.  He was told that in order to be allowed to pass he must have a cart with a horse. This is the law now. Otherwise ne needs to prepare in advance a passage permit for the horse itself. He tied the horse to the fence and sat down, angrily. Nina calls the DCO and there the polite soldiers confirms that those are “the laws”. The explanation: when he leaves with a cart and a horse he is going to his field, but with a horse itself it may be that he intends passing Israel – a very sound logic. At that moment we didn’t know that he lives in the seamline zone, and that he is perhaps permitted to pass. Later we understood that the girl soldiers phoned and tried to obtain a passage permit for him, but all those who may have given him the permit were at meetings. The greengrocer arrived and tried as well to help the young man and to convince the soldiers. But there is no solution.

Three young men who arrived loudly – one of them didn’t have a permit. He says he forgot it at home, and not for the first time, according to the girl soldiers. The young man is not permitted to pass to Habla and it sent back to Israel! Thus an illegal stay in Israel is arranged for him.

14:20 The mare and its owner are near the gate and there is a heated discussion between the soldiers and the owner of the mare. In the end he returns to Habla and all the gates are being shut. How he will manage to get home – the solutions rests by the god of the army.