We tried to check the matter of removing people from the buses, but today we did not encounter this. In spite of the fact that it was a day of demonstrations in the occupied territories, we did not encounter any disorderly conduct.

15:30 The Oranit Terminal – a few buses arrived. Israeli passengers descended from them and got on them. There were no police during  the time we were there nor on the way back from Azoun Atma. From a conversation with a man who was forced to leave the bus last week we learned that he left Kiryat Gat (where he works the whole week) at 2:30 on a train to the Diamond Exchange where he caught a bus to Ariel, with the intention of reaching his contractor. He was removed from the bus without an explanation at Oranit, and had to walk to the Azoun Atma CP and eventually reached home at 8 at night! Terrible.

15:50  'Azzun 'Atma–Exactly when we arrived workmen began arriving from work to return home. All the time there was a constant flow of people who passed through the CP without registration or checking. There was no queue. Everybody arrived already with ID cards in their hands, but they were not required to show them, only to indicate that they had papers.

The soldiers tried to remove us from where we stood, opposite the barrier on the sidewalk, behind a red plastic sign which indicates the prevention of passage. We insisted that we had the right to stand there and suggested they call the police, which they said they would do. The police did not arrive until we left.

On leaving we again passed through the Oranit terminal, where there were no police. We drove in the direction of Ariel behind a bus, to see what happens. A few Palestinian passengers dismounted at the Barkan junction, probably in order to continue in Palestinian cars which are allowed to pass there. Later many dismounted at the Ariel junction and went to the main road in order to continue. Near the junction there is a road going in the direction of workshops and there a few Palestinian cars were standing whose drivers said they were waiting for the passengers arriving on the busses, in order to drive them on. In reply to our question they seemed not to know about problems at the Oranit terminal, even not on Thursdays.

We continued driving along the road which passes north of Punduk/Jinspot and everything seemed quiet and calm.

16:40 'Azzun – We entered the village. We wanted to see whether there still were obstructions at the exit/entrance. Everything was tranquil and the commerce was conducted quietly,there was no sign of any disorder. We drove to Z.'s shop but he was not available, and when we returned to the exit from the village there was a military jeep standing on the side. The soldiers were busy chatting. We waited for 10 minutes but nothing changed and the entrance to the village remained open.

17:15 Habla –To our regret we were late. We wanted to see whether there were many people waiting before the barrier was opened, because they returned earlier from work,but we missed this because we waited at Azoun. The gate was already in action and the people – there were about 20 in the queue – passed in groups of five to the checking post, and after some time they reemerged and were allowed to pass on and go home. The passage is controlled by opening the gate  for five people only each time, and by closing it again after they have entered. All the time more people arrived in a scatter, and it seemed as if less people return at night than those leaving in the morning – perhaps the others return via the Eliyahu passage. Tractors, carts and night watchmen arrived too, and passed from Habla in the direction of the plant nurseries.

17:25 The queue came to an end, and not whoever arrives passes immediately.

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