Translator:  Charles K.

12:15  Bezeq checkpoint.  We crossed.

12:30  Highway 578 – Alon Road.  The road is burning hot.

A car parked west of the road, about 200 meters north of the Gochia barrier.  Five Palestinians stood or sat nearer the road, holding ID cards.  Four soldiers (who appeared to be reservists) got out of a jeep parked on the shoulder of the road.  One checked the IDs.  A second spoke with one of the Palestinians, a third spoke on the telephone.  Then they carefully inspected the car, opening everything.  Two of the soldiers noticed our curiosity.  We left after the IDs had been returned and the soldiers 

had driven off.  We exchanged farewell waves with the car that drove west on the dirt roads.  They’re apparently on their way north to bypass the earthen berm and the trench to its west.
 

Opposite the settlement of Ro’i, in the field surrounded by a fence that had been prepared for planting, we could already see the new vineyard planted and irrigated.

12:45  Hamra checkpoint.  HOT!!!

Orange/black flags.  The new shed has been erected.  The mobile baggage scanner is shut.  Only a few people cross to the east.  A car carrying laborers crosses west.  A vehicle belonging to the UN World Food Program also drives west.  The soldiers are busy with the lunch that’s been brought to them.  No one takes any interest in us, or cares where we’re standing – which is great.

13:10  We left.

Alon Road, Tevetz junction

A colorful piece of playground equipment (ladder-tunnel-slide) stands next to the school tent.  Similar equipment (made of metal), which doesn’t meet the Israeli standards for Jewish playgrounds, is also in place at the entrance to the Barta’a/Reihan checkpoint.

13:40  Tayasir checkpoint

All is quiet and deserted.  The commander asks us who we are; he’s not outraged by the fact we have permission to be there, so we walked up to the inspection station.  Very few cars go through.  Few taxis.  Today women cross without being embarrassed by someone rummaging through their handbags.  IDs are checked at the position on the road (for people crossing in both directions).

A water tanker on its way to the base; water that has overflowed is visible along the road.

14:00  We left.

Rotem settlement:  We drove up to the settlement on our way back.  Two reasons:  on the slope to its north we saw a large canopy, and along the Alon road signs were posted, invitations to T’u B’Av in Rotem.

A female soldier guarding at the settlement’s entrance came toward us quickly.  She asked whom we’d come to visit, opened the gate and was very happy to talk with us.  Like us, she doesn’t understand why a soldier who’d volunteered to serve in …. must guard the gate of a civilian settlement.  She’s knows that people refuse to serve; a good friend of hers is a pacifist who also taught her to think differently.  The female soldiers live in a house in the settlement; there are rules and set times for guard duty.  According to the regulations, if we attempt to descend the slope east of the settlement she’ll carry out the “procedure for stopping a suspicious person.”  We weren’t able to get to the canopy (it was fenced off).  We saw it had been erected on a patch of ground that had been leveled.  We’ll follow up.