'Awarta, Beit Furik, Huwwara, Wed 14.10.09, Afternoon
Translation: Aliyah S.
14:35 Trans-Shomron Border Crossing:
A few cars going in both directions. As we went along we saw a number of families harvesting olives.
15:00 Huwwara:
A van and a truck with Palestinian license plates were stopped and were checked. The truck was empty. Both vehicles went on their way. A soldier came up to us and asked where we're from. I answered Tel Aviv. "Yeh, I'm from Manhattan," he said. That's all. Vehicles were going in and coming out of the city without any problems.
15:30 Awarta:
It was completely empty. When we passed again on our way back from Beit Furik a few cars were going through.
15:35 Beit Furik:
The checkpoint was quiet. Since both of the observers are fairly new to the Southern Route we were happy to receive an explanation of who can go through Beit Furik from Hamdan, our driver. He also explained what villages we could see from there and how those people get to Nablus. We were happy to be able to learn something we hadn't known.
15:50 Huwwara:
After going through Huwarra we met Ahmed on the road and stopped to say hello to him.
17:00 Trans-Shomron Border Crossing
There were a few cars in line to go into Israel, but there didn't seem to be any problem.