Deir Sharaf, Sun 7.6.09, Morning
The checkpoints are becoming ever less accessible, by increasingly sophisticated means.
9:50 Deir Sharaf
Heavy traffic coming from Route 60 and at the exit from Nablus. Here too they've moved or added places where vehicles have to stop, a yellow gate and barriers about 200 meters west of where we used to stand. Very far from the soldiers' guard-posts. Cars pass by us, taxis, trucks, also military vehicles. They don't stop. Again, there's no real opportunity to speak to people. When we try to come near a car and to speak with the passengers, the soldiers immediately order the car to leave the area.
When we arrived we tried to park on the left side, near the generators, fairly distant from the soldiers' posts, which was where we'd been told in the past to park. A soldier came over and asked us to park beyond the new metal bar, about 100 meters farther away. We refused. We parked near the generators and walked to a point near the checkpoint from which we could observe and document what occurred. Not that there was much to do, since cars don't stop. But - at the new location, very near the barrels, on the two concrete blocks painted yellow, appears the number of the DCO for whoever needs it, thanks to Rikki, who didn't give up, and kept nagging Ahmad from the DCO. Since there's usually no DCO representative at the checkpoint, that's the least they could do.
Near the checkpoint a Palestinian man and woman work in the field, piling up sheaves.
On the position farther away, where there's a red sign warning against entering Area A, a handwritten notice has been posted, in Arabic, reading, "To Tulkarm"! We didn't understand why someone would want to get to Tulkarm from here, so near to Route 60, via Nablus ; Anabta isn't far away. Someone should find out what the purpose of the sign is.
On our way back via Jit, Qadum, Qedumim which is sending tentacles in every direction; Moshe Zar's villa stands high above this whole amazing landscape. Signs pointing to Ariel against the backdrop of the red roofs of Qedumim A, B or C. Mitzpeh Yishai on the left, another of Qedumim's attractive neighborhoods. Colorful decorations along the road, from some activity or celebration by the settlers this past weekend.
In the center of Funduk are a number of Border Police squad cars. Border Police soldiers are sitting in a vehicle with a pile of Palestinian ID cards. Some of the soldiers stood on the road, interviewing the young men they'd stopped. We asked what was going on; routine inspection, answered the officer, and asked whether we were from Watch. And whether we're not afraid to move around such a hostile village? A few Palestinian men wait near a shop until their ID's have been checked. They refrained from speaking with us.