Irtah

04:45 – The checkpoint is already open and the passage is pretty quick. A large number of workers enter into the "jetway". Fifteen minutes later we move to the other side.

The large yard is divided. A quarter of the area is full of employers' cars and the rest is empty, waiting for the checkpoint workers to come.

There are a lot of workers outside; sitting in groups along the road and waiting for the time to pass before the employer or the cab arrive.

We stand next to the exit gate and wait to hear if there are any complaints. The passage is quick. Somebody says that everything is alright today. No search on the body and only documents are checked. Another man who has been detained says that the detainees are held in small rooms for a long time, twenty people in one unventilated room. It makes them feel very bad, "like mice", unable to breath or talk.

One of the men complains that in the afternoon only one post is open and there is a long line of people waiting outside in the heat before they can enter. He asks to open more crossing posts. Another person complains that traders are allowed to enter only after 05:00.

Close to 06:00 we leave.

Anabta

There is still very little traffic. The soldier is polite and willing to answer questions. We go through the yellow gate which is before Deir Sharaf to Beit Iba. The soldiers don't stop us and we go on and get to what used to be a checkpoint. The area is empty and we stand there looking around us and asking ourselves again, "What was it good for?"

On the way back the soldier asks us what we have been doing there.