Change in opening hours of gates 1419 (Jalud), 1447 (Abu Salman, south)

As requested by Shoshi and Zvia, we met the Council head, M.M., who is joint Council head for Azbat Salman, Jalus, Il Mudvar and Ashkar, in order to enable the workers to return to their homes in the afternoon hours during Ramadan.

The afternoon opening is particularly relevant at the Jalud gate, which generally opens at 06:15 in the morning and 17:00 in the evening. Although, as the council head explained, it is possible to return through the Abu Salman gate, which is open in the afternoon. Those who have permits to pass at Jalud often face problems with the soldiers standing at the gate. That is, return depends on the good will of the soldiers – which is hard to rely on.

We also dealt with the request to open the Abu Salman gate (1447) at 06:00 instead of the current 07:45, so that during the summer the workers can benefit from the cool early morning hours.

To handle the above issues, we connected between the Council head and Ha-Moked – Centre for the Defense of the Individual, to continue handling the matter.

During the meeting, the problem arose of those refused permits by Security. We left Sylvia’s phone number.

From there we drove to Beit Amin.  As we arrived in the afternoon, we found the Council deserted because of Ramadan. The Council head, M.S., came especially to meet us. He, too, raised the question of opening the gate earlier. (The gate relevant for his village is 1447.) We explained that we were trying to deal with this.

The atmosphere in these meetings was good, but we felt that it was not as in the past. Perhaps the Ramadan fast made more obvious the depression, weariness, and everyday hardship resulting from the occupation.