Translation: Galia S.

Jubara

13:25 – Little traffic.

13:30 – The Schoolchildren's Gate is open. Three of the village residents cross on foot. The trunk of one vehicle is checked. At Ar-Ras checkpoint, the soldiers, reservists, send a pedestrian back because the picture on his ID card is not clear.

Two youths from the Jenin area are allowed to pass after being detained for a short while because the driver's document is torn. They are warned that next time they won't be allowed to pass.

The vehicles have to wait some distance away from the checkpoint. They approach the checkpoint at the soldier's hand gesture. ID cards and passage permits are checked.

When we want to leave the village toward the road that leads to Tulkarm, the soldiers pretend they don't see or hear us, so we hoot the horn. They also ignore me when I leave the vehicle and shake the gate. Two settlers, a man and a woman, both young, stand at the checkpoint. We get the impression that they and the soldiers share some funny joke. Ten minutes later I call the IDF Humanitarian Center asking them to call the brigade. At the Center they don't even know where Jubara is. Another 6 minutes pass when finally 2 soldiers come to the gate.

Anabta

14:40 – Vehicles pass at the soldier's hand gesture. Random checks. The soldier at the post peeks into the vehicle. A long line of vehicles dissolves soon after we arrive.
 

We go on to Shave Shomron and Beit Iba.

Qalqiliya

16:40 – There’s a very long line and a chaotic jumble of cars at the entrance to the city. On the other hand, at the exit vehicles can leave without any inspection (!). On the way to the checkpoint one of the city residents stops me. "I am 37 years old," he says. "This is how it has been since I was a kid. I go to bed at night thinking about this checkpoint. Life shouldn't be like that. I can't go on this way since I was little, they have been telling me that it will be all right tomorrow, but I am already 37 and for me it will be never all right".