There were no group restrictions for passing through the road blocks.
 
14:15-14:25 Jubara – Gate 753 and A-Ras road block
 
At gate 753 a Palestinian from the village Far'a B'jiptlik is detained. His work permit has lost its validity on the 6.1.08, and he has not been issued with a new one yet. He has a magnetic card and carries the invalid permit. When we got there he claimed to have been sitting there for two hours ( we got confirmation of this from taxi drivers who asked us to help him). In spite of several phone calls to the Humanitarian Centre he was freed only at 15:45, after waiting for almost 5 hours. His invalid work permit had been confiscated.
 
At the Ar-Ras road block, cars travelling northbound (towards Tulkarm) do not stop and are not inspected. Cars going south (from Tulkarm) are inspected seemingly according to the soldiers' whim, since there are cars that pass without inspections and others whose drivers are asked to open the trunk of their car. We saw no verification of identity cards. We left after a short while because there was no queue. The pothole in the road coming from south is deepening with every rain. Palestinian cars reaching the road block from the south cannot avoid entering the hole.
 
14:35 – 14:45 Anabta
Most cars pass without inspection. There is no queue. In the parking area a man stops us. His merchant's permit had been revoked after he refused to cooperate with the Military Intelligence. He acts as an agent in the territories for several companies from Israel, and without the permit he cannot operate. He told us that when he he had returned from a visit to Jordan he was called to have a chat with a representative of the Military Intelligence, on the bridge, who asked him to work with the Military Intellingce Forces. He refused and immediately his permit was revoked. We referred him to Sylvia to deal with.
 
16:40 – Jit Junction
No road block.
 
16:03 – Al Funduq water pipes are being replaced along the road, a continuation of the waterpipes replacement works in the area where there had been earth road blocks about a month ago. Then when they blocked the roads the army bulldozers damaged the waterpipe system .
 
16:45 Azzun – The entrance from Route 55 is open.
 
17:00 Havla Gate North (1393. The gate is situated past several greenhouses, along Route 55 (among which is the greehouse belonging to Omar whose permit has been revoked recently). A flock of sheep return from the meadow and pass through the gate. The soldiers tell us that the gate is open until 18:15 (probably since 16:30, in addition to one hour at noon and two hours in the morning.) We want to know if the residents of Havla or any of the neighbouring villages, returning from work in Israel, can pass through that gate, instead of through Eyal. The soldiers answer that only he who has the gate number written in his permit can go through it, but that if someone from the region arrives and asks to go through then they call the DCO and ask for instructions.
 
While standing at the gate 2-3 people go through.