'Azzun 'Atma, 'Izbet alTabib, Falamiya, Habla
06:15 – 'Azzun 'Atma
The wall continues to proceed; opposite the checkpoint, on an empty lot, there are many new piles of dirt. Are they planting a garden there? A lot of people are in line but it moves "quickly", thanks to 3 inspection stations. We timed the passage as about 25 minutes. The "coffee kids" are only on the 'Azzun 'Atma side, until the DCO arrives at about 07:00 and allows them to cross over to the "Israeli" side of the checkpoint and they happily run to find more customers. Of course, we bought some, they were so happy when that happened. Behind the checkpoint were 7 detainees
who had been caught going through holes in the fence without having entry permits. The checkpoint commander, who came over to understand who we are and what we were doing there, promised that he would hold them for 3 hours, because that is the maximum time he is allowed to detain them,. Why are they passing through if they don't have permits; they could be smuggling arms. And our answer was, so why doesn't the IDF close up the holes - the opening calls out for the thief. It seemed as though he understood the absurdity in the situation here.
06:40 -
The girls arrive on the way to school, well groomed, in school uniforms, looking so cared for and orderly. They pass behind the checkpoint, but today the procedure is different and they are sent back to go through the vehicles gate which opens just for them.
When we left, 4 donkey carts full of vegetables rode towards us, towards the checkpoint. They were on their way to Oranit and Kfar Kassem from 'Azzun; they passed through the Tamar gate, which is broken, and were caught by a military patrol which was now traveling along the parallel road and watching over them to make sure they get to the checkpoint. How miserable, your heart breaks to see them trying to make a little money, without a chance.
07:15 Habla
The line is long, the children's bus comes and goes through, today only girls. In 12 minutes, 25 men went through. At a certain stage, there were a lot of discussions between the military police at the gate, before the turnstile, checking IDs for some reason and organizing the line which considerably slowed up the passing. It started to speed up after 07:45 (the time for closing the gate). A lot more vehicles went through and plants and, at 08:05, all the pedestrians went through and the gates closed. We also saw trucks with pieces of the wall traveling on the patrol road on the east (from there they ascend on the western patrol road and the south, by way of Habla). We didn't find out where these pieces of wall were headed.
08:35 Izbat Tabib
A military jeep stands at the entrance to the road leading here from the main road, but we don't see any soldiers, perhaps they are sleeping in it. At the entrance to 'Azzun there is also a military vehicle but when we returned it was no longer there.
08:50 Falamiya
A tractor and carts pass through; they tell us that a lot of people from Jayyus now arrive here because the gate at Jayyus opens too early (05:45-06:30) and there are obstacles on the way from there, so they prefer to arrive at Falamiya even though it is a detour. The path of the intended new fence is paved, but we don't see any work on it, only a tractor going by through the checkpoint. The Bedouin who live in the seam area will remain outside the fence as far as we can see from here, and they will need a gate.