Irtah, Jubara, Anabta, Thursday AM, 29 June 2006 Watchers: Esthi S, Ruti W, Hadassa T (reporting) Summary: Wasn’t easy going out to the shift this morning – the operation in Gaza, the kidnapped soldier and everything arising from it causing discomfort. The morning news and the item about action across the West Bank that had resulted in the arrest of senior Hamas personnel (including cabinet ministers) placed before us in even stronger terms the Occupation and its horrors, together with fear of what would happen at the checkpoints now, and what would happen to us in general – mad, mad, Middle East and what are we coming to…But in any case, we did go out, and this is what we saw:07:15 Irtah 900 day laborers crossed through at this checkpoint according to Shmulik, the checkpoint commander. There are none of the usual chartered buses that escort families visiting inmates in Israeli prisons; this arrangement has evidently been suspended since the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit on Sunday (June 25).07:30 Jubara A police checkpoint before the square. The soldiers are standing around idly. No one coming, no one going. Down the road we can see fences on the roadsides to Einav.We decide not to go down to Ar-Ras Checkpoint (again because of the special situation), and look down from the road. Seems there is no long line at that checkpoint…07:45 Anabta A long line of vehicles from the direction of Anabta. The first soldier that we meet reports that everyone is crossing, and so it seems. Few minutes pass and another soldier comes over and stops the process: until we leave the checkpoint, they will not process anyone, neither people nor vehicles. We decide to drive on and not cause delays. Because of the circumstances of this day, we did not contact any commander, though it seems that according to previous reports, this situation should be investigated in higher echelons. [Ed. note: Previous reports cite similar instances, in which a soldier’s summary disruption of the passage procedure due to MachsomWatch presence was reversed upon contacting a ranking officer.] The soldier refused to give his name.