Tarqumiya Tuesday afternoon, 27 October 2004 Observers: Lena Z and Eva QEvening shift. Lovely day, sunshine and not too hot but still unusual weather even for being an “Indian summer.” The roads to Tarqumiya have greatly improved since we were there last and there were at least 3 large road signs pointing out Tarqumiya. The roads were clear, but it seemed that many empty buses, taxis and tenders (pickup trucks) were cruising around available for settlers coming to Jerusalem to demonstrate against the withdrawal from Gaza at the time of the vote tonight in the Knesset.We left Omer at 14:35 and did not foresee car trouble, but very close to Tarqumiya, the car started to overheat and there was no way to continue to our goal. Very shortly after we pulled off the road, an army mechanic pulled over and offered assistance. M. turned out to be just what the doctor ordered and knew exactly what was wrong (overheating due to a radiator problem). His somewhat cynical reference to us MachsomWatch women was quickly forgiven when we realized we had found a sterling jewel without whom we would not have come back at a reasonable time before dark. After allowing the motor to cool down and explaining what should be done with the car, he offered to accompany us to a gas station in Kiryat Gat. By this time, at 17:30, Lena’s husband the engineer was already on his way to help. Lena phoned M. that evening to express our appreciation. We presume that Tarqumiya will be there next time; in the meantime we were grateful that for us all was well that ended well. We returned to Omer at 19:30