11:30 Anabta

No soldiers at the CP, traffic flows.  There are new concrete blocks on the side of the road along the entrance which are new.

Zeta (564) closed; only open 3 time a week

12:15 Baladia Municipality – The clerk we met at the entrance said there were not any problems, then the secretary came down and sat with us for a while.  He said the owners of land can get pass, but not the workers.  He told us that he went to a family event via Irtah Gate and had no problems entering Israel, even though he has no permit to go to his land; he is over 55 years of age; he asked how this can be. We gave him the phone number of Center for the Defense of the Individual to make inquiries. 

12:40 Atil (609) is closed when we arrive; opens at 12:45, no hours are written on the gate.  When the gate opens everyone passes together in mass in the direction returning, no checking passes, whereas the Palestinians' permits and ID are check in the other direction.  The passing the CP goes quickly in the afternoon, not like the morning, as we are told.  One of the owners of a greenhouse would prefer the gate would be opened at 5:00 during the summer months and not at 6:00 as is now. 

Furthermore, there was someone who complained that his son who is responsible for all the land work on his 40 dunams who has security restrictions also received the telephone number of the Center for the Defense of the Individual.

There were complaints that often happen when the Palestinians arrive at the gate dressed in 'clean' clothes; the soldiers don't allow them to pass because they suspect they want to get to Israel.  We suggested that they phone when this happens, according to the d.c.o the soldiers have to allow them to pass as long as they haven't been caught previously. 

13:25 Deir el Ghusun 623 (gate on other side 624)

Here also when the gate is opened the soldiers let all the Palestinians pass at once, pedestrians as well as tractors, donkeys; here also the yellow sign is blank, nothing is written, no gate number or hours.  The last one to cross is an elderly man, 102 years old, he remembers when the English arrived, and he tells us as he returns from his land with his workers.  He goes to his land to show his presence and reinforce his claim.

On the side near the gate, there are remnants of a sitting area that the Palestinians use while waiting for the gate to open.

On our way out in Bala Village, we see a new sign "Ottoman Railroad"

On Thursday, 7/3/2016 received a phone call from CP 609 at 7:10 am, they were told that the soldiers didn't allow 3 people to pass at the gate; the soldiers maintain that the Palestinians were not dressed in working clothes.  Micky phoned the d.c.o, they checked this out with the officer in charge of the gates and was told that they (soldiers) must allow the Palestinians passage.  By the time the Palestinians were notified, the gate was closed.

On Friday again received a call from the check point that there was a man with an authorized permit but wasn't allowed to pass the CP, the soldiers maintain that the man has security restrictions.  Micky calls the d.c.o and they notify the soldiers to allow the man to pass, in spite of this the soldiers refuse the man passage.  It is decided that in the future the man should call the Israeli d.c.o himself if he isn't allowed to pass; and to investigate why he is given problems with the soldiers