Hamra, Tayasir, Wednesday, February 8, 2006, PMObservers: Hassida S. (reporting); Guest: Yisrael S., driver and photographer 12.00 – 14.35 12.00 HamraThe traffic flowed freely through the CP in three directions: from north to south, from the west (in the direction of Tubas and Nablus); from the southeast (from Jericho west) and from west to east to the area of the Bik’a. We observed a truck loaded with hay, trucks loaded with agricultural produce, and so on. All of them apparently had appropriate permits, since they went through quite quickly after the documents were inspected. In addition, cars with teachers and pupils passed from east to west and from west to east. We did not see the performance of the “dance procedure” of ill repute from other CPs. The CP commander, A., was polite to those going through and to us. Lieutenant S., the company commander, was also very courteous. He came to reinforce the soldiers at the CP and speed up the passage, even though there was not really so much pressure. Thanks to his intervention, the vehicles traveling in both directions could be inspected at once.According to the accepted procedure at the Bik’a CP, the passengers get out of the vehicle and form a line; the driver hands over the documents of all of them for inspection, the soldiers compare the documents to the people, who in the end get into the cars and are driven away. That is the way it works in both directions, both when they enter and when they exit. The same procedure is carried out with the UN workers who are in vehicles with the UN symbol painted on them. The CP soldiers in these CPs belong to the battalion of Haredi Nahal (Pioneer Fighting Youth). Were it not for the fact that the existence of checkpoints that interfere and limit the movement of the Palestinians is undesirable and superfluous, this would all look fine. The Palestinians did not complain. Tayasir, 13.30We parked beside a red anemone in a beautiful untamed landscape, with taxis passing on a road full of potholes. Two or three soldiers of the Haredi Nahal are in the hut. We can see the remains of mashed potatoes from lunch and hot tea in blue plastic cups that I remember from my own military service, a long, long time ago.While we were there, mostly teachers were passing, apparently returning from Bardeleh to Tubas. There were also a few pupils who went through from north to south, walking, apparently toward the Bedouin tents in the area. It looks as if the only good we did was to encourage the soldiers to come out of their relatively warm hiding place in the hut to inspect documents and people and let them go through to the other side. It was very cold; a mist was spreading, and we left.