Za’tara, Jurish, ‘Azzun ‘Atma

We left Rosh Ha’ayin at 14:00.  No military presence was on the roads.

14:30  Za’tara junction.  A Palestinian vehicle was detained for inspection.

14:50  Jurish.  We met 13 pupils at the municipal building; most had attended in the past.  The English class began with a review of the previous lesson and a conversation lasting some twenty minutes about items and events in the girls’ lives.  We learned one had become engaged and three others have boyfriends.  We played pantomime and discovered a number of girls were extremely skilled! We read a short text about Italy (i missed last week's class because i had gone to Italy).  The lesson plan included practicing present and past tenses of verbs, but there wasn’t enough time.  We’ll continue next time.  We again asked the girls to save the worksheets and bring them to the next class.  We have to make sure they do, and also do their homework, so they make progress.  Hadas taught a lovely, catchy song in English; all the girls were impressed by her wonderful voice.  They were exultant, happy and filled with enjoyment when the class ended.

Anna led the yoga class instead of Sarah, who has gone to the US on a visit.  The class proceeded calmly, as usual, with everyone cooperating.  Only some of the girls participated this time; others felt weak because they were fasting for Eid el Adha.

After the English class, while the yoga lesson was underway, we had a very interesting conversation with six or seven girls.  This conversation after class has become a routine.  We spoke about politics.  They’re bothered because they’re unable to visit Israel, especially to pray at Al Aqsa in Jerusalem.  They also talked about school; they don’t like class because the teacher only stands in front of the class and leads them in reading and writing exercises.  They say they enjoy our classes very much; they’re a real pleasure.  We agreed to tour the village with them next week.

17:30  Za’tara.  On our way back we saw a military jeep, and two soldiers inspecting a vehicle coming from Nablus.

We saw two soldiers standing at Hars junction.  Nadim noticed a soldier standing higher up, in the olive grove. 

At the ‘Azzun ‘Atma checkpoint we saw the new fence separating the settlement of Sha’arei Tikva from the village of ‘Azzun ‘Atma, again preventing Palestinians from travelling freely.

Soldiers at that checkpoint were detaining villagers.

There  are police at the western entrance of the Shomron checkpoint.

18:00  ‘Azzun ‘Atma checkpoint.  Two soldiers are standing, a third is seated in the vineyard, covering them.  Laborers who’d finished their workday in the settlements waited for transportation