11:30  Bezeq checkpoint.  We crossed.

Alon Road (Highway 578).  The berm and trench are still there, preventing people from moving  between the western and eastern Jordan Valley except on roads approved by the occupier  (upper photo).

12:10  Hamra checkpoint.  The observation tower (middle photo).  Laborers return from work in minibuses or private cars.  The vehicles’ trunks are inspected.

A Palestinian stands opposite the soldiers at the checkpoint on the road, talking to them.  At first we thought he may have been arrested or detained.  Then, when he started talking to the soldiers, we wondered what he was doing there.  M., our friend, who was returning from prayers, told us that the man is employed cleaning the checkpoint.  He later rode off in one of the cars going west.  M. went through the checkpoint along with an older man and a child.  The child held a belt in his hand.  We learned that people crossing on foot go through the revolving gate and undergo inspection, as in the past.  An Israeli car arrived at the checkpoint from the east and was sent back (we inferred, on the basis of their head scarves, that the driver and her passengers were Palestinians).  A truck with a yellow (Israeli) license plate arrived from the west.  It was towing a bin, probably filled with manure.

We had no contact with the five soldiers who were there.

12:35  We left.

13:05  Tayasir

Cats jump out of the garbage bin when we arrive.  Cows graze outside the deserted base.  Their cow-flops lie all along the road.  Two scary D9 bulldozers with metal protective

grilles are parked next to the upper station (lower photo).  Kfir soldiers (who appear to be new recruits) aren’t able to tell us why the two monsters are there.  Perhaps to clear away the base, and then the checkpoint?

Very sparse traffic.

13:30  We left.

13:55  We crossed through the Bezeq checkpoint.