We headed to the West Bank on Road 5. Under the bridge between A Zawiya and Masha we saw a closed gate instead of the dirt piled there in the past. At Giti intersection there were soldiers in the posts and hitch-hiker station. In Zeita Jama’in and Marda, too, gates were closed. Along the way there is considerable presence of Messiah flags – at the roundabout at Ariel settlement entrance, on the turnoff to Evyatar outpost on both sides of the road, as well as opposite the entrance to Burin. The house just before Marda still sports a Messiah flag on its roof, above the Israel flag. We saw no soldiers on the roof top this time, they may have been downstairs or indoors. Just before reaching the Tapuach intersection on the west, we saw a sign saying “Our legs annul the Oslo Accords”.

On our way to Aqraba we noticed that the Palestine flag was removed (according to locals, the wind blew it off and it will be replaced). From the Aqraba access road we photographed a new settler outpost on a nearby hill, across Road 505, apparently called “Rehav’am”. Another flag waves there beside the Israeli one. From afar one has trouble seeing what it said, but previous acquaintance – according to Anat – assures us it is a Jewish Temple flag…

In Duma we gave clothes and blankets to three needy families, among them S.’s family of the Jahalin clan (Al-Zawahara). These are Bedouins chased away from Umm al Rashash and moved to A Shajara. Some built houses and others lived in shacks that were demolished by the DCO about a year ago. They now live in tents.

We drove with D. (Abu A.) to A Shajara on the eastern outskirts of Duma, overlooking Ma’ale Efraim settlement. We visited S. in a shack that serves as his father’s home. They were chased away over two years ago, here too shacks were demolished and they are prohibited from rebuilding in concrete. They live in shacks, and the concrete houses they began building are now under cessation of work orders.

From the area, a settler outpost is seen on the opposite hill, from which settlers come to hurt the local residents. According to the latter, its name is “Heroes of David” (Giborei David).

From the unfinished house in Duma where he and his family are living, D. showed us the former area of Al Rashash. Settlers now inhabit it (Mal’achei HaShalom – Hebrew for Angels of Peace…). We observed areas that formerly served the Bedouins, and now settler calves are introduced there, and the Bedouins are prohibited access. We observed the hill flanked on both sides by Al Mrajam fields. There, too, local residents suffer repeated settler harassment.

We exited Doma and drove towards Huwara. We entered Beita. The village was open and posts were unmanned by soldiers. We heard that on the previous day, settlers from Evyatar outpost accompanied by soldiers attacked houses in the Ahraiq area and burnt structures on Mount Qamas and Al Dhahariya. A local resident said the attack was aimed at a lone house on the hill. We also heard about another attack against municipality workers who were busy upkeeping water pipes. The municipal vehicles they came in were stolen.

Checkpoints on roads leading from Awarta and Beit Furik to Nablus were opened and unmanned by soldiers. Traffic flowed accordingly.

While we were in the Burin area, our friend D. reported that army forces surrounded Madama village, declared curfew, arrested many youngsters, shackling and blindfolding them. Later they blocked the way between Madama and Burin with dirt. This is the only entrance to the village.

Another report today (April 25^th) added that the village is still under curfew and the forces have not left. It also reported that Al Madawara checkpoint between Burin and Nablus is closed, many vehicles being stuck there. Soldiers stopped a bus, took its passengers off and instructed the driver to continue to Nablus.