Ma'ale Efrayim, Tayasir, Wed 22.12.10, Afternoon
11.00 Ma'aleh Ephraim - empty. In the evening as well, there is no light in the pillbox, but there is light in the container / booth in the back.
12.45-13.05 Hamra. Passage is quick in both directions, with no inspection. The soldiers are all together, standing at the side of the road and are not doing any inspection. When we left, we saw that the bunch broke up and began to inspect pedestrians.
13.35(and again at 14.45) we passed by the spring at Ein al Hilwa, but no settlers were to be seen at that hour of the day. One of the Palestinian women from the camp of tents said that everyday in the afternoon, the settlers go down to the spring and prevent them from approaching the spring to water the herds. The Palestinians who live around the spring, are terrorized by their neighbors! In the new school there were no children and a Bedoui woman explained that the only ones who study there are the little children and they finish school at 12.30.
13.50-14.35 Tyasir CP- Inspections are quick; in both directions there is almost no inspection. A soldier tells us that the CP is open 24 hours a day. 14.15 - The shifts are changing. The CP stops operating for no more than two minutes. The new shift inspects with great care and we have a feeling that now they are making things more difficult for those going through. Everything is done according to the soldiers' whims - everything is arbitrary! Pedestrians are asked (in Hebrew) where they are going and where they are coming from, and documents and packages are inspected in both directions. It is lucky that the traffic is thin, otherwise there would be long queues.
16.45 - Hamra. When we arrive we see queues of medium length (6 or 7 cars) in both directions, and there is no inspection. We approach the soldiers who immediately begin to let people through, with no inspection in the direction of the West Bank and superficial inspection in the direction of the Valley. We notice two detainees
in the detainee-shed, and when we approach them, soldiers run toward us and yell at us, saying that we should leave and go to the junction (about 100 meters from there), otherwise they will close the CP. They [say that they] are guarding us and it is for our own security. We stop but do not go away. We ask why the people are detained. "They are dangerous prisoners and the police will soon come to take them." While we are talking, a police pickup truck arrives. One of the policemen approaches us; he is courteous and does not try to make us go away. Afterwards, he approaches the "dangerous" detainees, and after ten minutes lets them go on their way. 17.05 - We left.