'Anabta, Irtah, Tue 4.3.08, Morning

Irtah
06:45-07:00  -  A long time since our last visit, and nothing has changed. Workers are still coming out of the facility complaining about the long wait and the extra random check at what is called "the rooms".
 
Anabta
09:15-09:30  (back from Beit Iba)  - Again, like last week, no vehicles queuing up. A soldier manning the checkpoint notifies us that taking photographs "is forbidden". We put him right, though Noga always consents not to photograph the faces of soldiers.
 
09:45-10:30  - The saga of the closed gate goes on. The key is there, but the checkpoint commander is unfamiliar with the permission granted to us to enter the village. We call Tammi, and eventually the gate is opened for us. The village is deserted as usual, and down in Ar-Ras hardly any vehicles pass.