The goal was to again determine the route to the Beit Amin (1447) and Izbat Salman (1419) checkpoints.  On our previous visit we had arrived from the direction of Israel and the commander told us we’re not allowed to use the security road and that we can observe from the “red side” – from the Palestinian villages.

15:00  We passed through ‘Azzun (stopping at Z.’s) and continued south via Thulth.  Where the road forked, marked with signage, we turned right and continued via Kafr Bada until we reached Izbat Salman.  We turned south and saw the fence and even the checkpoint adjacent to the houses of Oranit.  We initially couldn’t locate the road leading to the checkpoint; later we found it. 

16:00  We turned north to the Izbat Salman gate (1419), located in Jaloud, and saw two young Palestinians with a  car and a wheelbarrow containing a large sack of building materials.  The soldiers arrived at 16:15, opened the gate, the Palestinians brought the sack to the other side, returned to their car and drove away.

We drove south again and found the route to the Beit Amin checkpoint (1447), whose number doesn’t appear in the most recent list of opening hours.  It’s identifiable by a pile of charred garbage in the southern corner.  The checkpoint was already open and on our way there along the narrow, steep dirt road we met other vehicles.  The residents of ‘Azzun ‘Atma must now come all the way here because the Oranit gate, which is near them, is closed and will not be reopened.

Two young men with white cars were there, to meet people who’d walked along the security road from their lands in Oranit or who’d gotten a ride with someone, and drive them back to their homes in ‘Azzun ‘Atma.  That’s how they manage to deal with the army’s harassment and arbitrariness, paying a high price in effort, time and money.

We gave a ride home to a resident of Beit Amit who’d come through the checkpoint and returned to Highway 5 via Siniriyya, Bidia and Hares.