'Azzun 'Atma, Thu 25.9.08, Afternoon

Azun-Atmeh

We
went by car in into the village and came to the checkpoint (the gate of
the fence between Azun Atmeh and the West Bank.

15.50 When we got there
there were no lines or detainees. On the other side were two cars so
the passers by told us.

Two
women and a chld dressed in holiday best came through on foot because
the car that had brought them was not allowed to pass. Now they stand
and wait for some one to pass by and take them to the village. The fact
that if they take a taxi it will cost them more forces them to depend
on the goodwill of others and the spirit of Ramadan. Few cars pass here
and only after a quarter of an hour does someone pick them up. People
return from work …less than usual. It seems that in Ramadan whoever can
allow himself to do so does not go to work in Israel. Some 10s of
people do, those who have permits or are marked down as residents of
Azun pass through. Others are sent to the shed of the detainees.

The
delay is about 10 minutes long at the end of which one of the soldiers
or the commander give them a lecture after standing them in line. Now
the workers who have returned after a long and tiring day and who are
fasting are told to stand with their backs to the checkpoint and not to
speak and to stand facing the cement wall. Another small humiliations
on the way home.

One
group say that a week ago on Thursday one of the men who looks like a
boy and who did not have a permit got into an altercation with a
soldier and was beaten. The man himself told us that this was so and
described the soldier as a ginger head with a beard.

A
resident of Azun said that a few days ago at 6.00 a soldier had
demanded from one of the drivers whose name he gave me to go and bring
him something to drink and cigarettes. When the man refused the
soldiers closed the checkpoint for half an hour. The man said that
because of that he was half an hour late for work (at one of the
settlements).

Another
said that his sister had married two years ago and now lives in Bahala.
Since then she has not visited her parents' home in Azun  because she
is no longer a resident of the area.