'Azzun 'Atma, Huwwara, Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim), Za'tara (Tapuah), Sat 3.7.10, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
10:30 a.m.
We exited from Road 5 into Kfar Kasem. It is immediately clear that we are in an Arab village - there are no pavements. We drove along the length of the village and continued along the bumpy road the length of the fence, the one with the lookout tower, to Azun Atma.
We were not stopped and we saw no soldiers.
Azun Atma roadblock
10:45 a.m.
A woman and a youth enter, an elderly man on a donkey exits. A soldier looks through his bags and they talk, it looks like a Saturday morning chat. We saw three soldiers outside and one in the room. The duty unit's flag (Search and Rescue) flies on the flagpole.
Arta/Sha'ar Ephraim roadblock
11:00 a.m.
Civilian police inspect the traffic entering the territories including driving licences and ID cards. There are also a lot of Border Police soldiers as well as armed civilians (a security company?).
We saw no cars queuing.
Za'atra/Tapuach Junction
11:50 a.m.
There are no traffic hold ups. Soldiers look but do not stop anyone. We waited for a few minutes and then moved on.
We took two hitchhikers to Huwwara - an Arabic teacher and a labourer who works in Oranit. The teacher, from Silfit, spoke excellent English; he didn't say a lot but invited us to his home.
The labourer is happy with his job; it doesn't bother him working on a settlement. He asked for the donation of a computer for his children, something old that maybe someone is changing...
We gave out visiting cards, just in case.
We promised to search for a used computer.
Huwwara roadblock
12:10 p.m.
It is pleasant here today too.
The soldiers appear relaxed.
We didn't see any hold-ups; the inspections are random and quick.
At the entrance to Nablus there is also a civilian police jeep.
We saw many cars with Israeli number plates going into Nablus.
There are 4 soldiers at the exit, we also saw lorries leaving from here today.
1:00 p.m.
We drove via Punduk and Jit. We didn't see anything in particular.