Hamra, Tayasir, Tue 27.9.11, Afternoon

13:20-15:30

13:20 Bezeq CP– We went though.

It is hot!!!! It is dry!!!

The shoveldozer is still parked in the middle path.

13:40: Hamra

here are many planes, three ofthem passed very low to the east of the CP.

Traffic is thin. Cars with workers are going west. Private taxis leave for the east. A Palestinian truck with packages of fruits and vegetable familiar from Israel goes through. A driver comes to pick up his wife; in the meantime he tells us that "today the CP is ok. There are ups and downs, but today it's ok."

A sergeant and an additional soldier walk over to us: "You are from ???? (apparently forgot) women watch (remembers). You don't have to be afraid." He finds out if we know the rules. This time, too, the rules we know are different from those he knows. "Stand there …. Stand behind the concrete hut …." We ask about the knives that he and his colleagues have attached to their feet. Naively and proudly he tells us that the knife is obligatory for every soldier in the engineering corps because the general says that this is the way we show that we are in the corps". They call it 'kalach', short for kalachnikov, or 'storm knife'.  He didn't agree for us to take a picture of the foot with the knife (for that there has to be a permit from the commander). "There are instructions from the colonel to freeze the CP if the women of the Watch do not stand behind the concrete hut --- there. It seemed as if he would not go against the colonel's instructions, so we went to observe on the other side of the road. The sun's rays were especially strong, many people were waiting at the western entrance of the CP, so it wouldn't have been right to let him 'freeze' the CP. The passage was quick. People greeted us, speaking, shaking hands, waving from the windows of the cars.

14:20All of them went through. We left.

The Alon Road: A blue tent or shed was added from the Maskiyot settlement. It is hard to see exactly what it is from the road.

14:45 Tyasir CP

Lots of squills are blooming on the hills and around the base. A midibus arrives at the CP. They give him a sign to advance, to stop. And then all the passengers get out. This time, they are put in a line at the side of the road. One by one they approach the soldier, receive their ID and get back on to the midibus. When a smaller minibus arrives, the ritual of returning the IDs is carried out through the windows. The traffic is thin

15:15. We left.

15:50: Bezeq CP– we went through.