.

06:55 Habla. The gate was already open and the first 5 Palestinians were being checked.  The inspection was swift.  21 people went through in 20 minutes.  The Palestinians keep the line in order.  It seems that there are slightly fewer people than usual.  The soldiers are relaxed and willing to talk with us.  There is ful and melouchiah blooming in the fields next to the checkpoint.

0 7:25  No change in the problems at Izbet Tabib.

07:30 'Azzun is quiet.  It is vacation and there are no school children.

07:40  Falamya .Quiet, few people going through at this hour.  Working in the Zatar fields.  One youth who is working in the field asks the soldiers to to fill his bottle with cold water.  They reply with a smile and flll it.

08:05 A lot of traffic on the detour passes near the checkpoint.  One Palestinian returns from the area on the other side of the checkpoint and waits for transportation to Kfar Jamal, so we offer him a ride.  We don't see any signs of change concerning the route of the wall in this area.  The soldiers say that the work has started near Jubara.  Also the Palestinians with whom we talked didn't have any idea of where the new route might be. We wanted to drive from Kfar Jamal to Kfar Sur but we arrived at Kfar Zibad from there we continued to Kfar Sur (on a road which doesn't appear on the new map).   There is a lot of paving of new roads and, because of this, a lot of detours.  We got onto the paved road to Tulkarm and from there, from above, one sees the wall in all its glory.

08:40  Checkpoint 753

There is no trace of the checkpoint of Ar Ras at the entrance to the road which descends to Tulkarm, and we arrive at the 753 checkpoint which we used to call the Flowers Checkpoint and the Childrens' Checkpoint…This checkpoint is at the entrance to Jobara which is now the only entrance to the village.  The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day.  A line of Palestinian vehicles is parked at the side of the road, which belong to Palestinians who have an entrance permit to the village, but their cars don't.  A car with an entrance permit enters after a short inspection.  Sounds good, but this is someone who must go through daily and pass inspection when he arrives home!  There is no sign of the new wall on this side and people don't know exactly where it will be, probably between the settlement of Sla'it and the village of Ar  Ras.  One doesn't know how many fields and olive trees will still be on the other side of the wall… On the way back, we entered the village of Ar  Ras and went up to a lookout from which you can see the entire view;  we spoke with two cute children and their pleasant grandmother in sign language, and they invited us to drink tea;  when we had to refuse, they gave us a branch of marmiya which we could put in our tea at home…We continued by way of the village and went down to the checkpoint of 'Anabta, where there is free passage but the soldiers in the pill box watched us from above.

10:00  Teenim checkpoint We were thoroughly checked by the soldiers and stopped outside the checkpoint in order to look from that side toward the village of Jobara which is closed tightly.  Here one can see very clearly the beginning of work for moving the fence.  The house of Abu Hatam is decorated with ribbons.  Is this in honor of the moving of the fence?!