'Anin, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked
15:00 A'anin CP 15:00
Three tractors, several men and one woman are returning to A'anin from their fields, which are cut off from the village by the security fence.
They ask if we know what is happening at the armistice talks in Egypt. All of us hope that the calm will continue.
15:30 Tura-Shaked CP
There is almost no traffic, as usual at this CP at this hour.
16:00 Taibeh-Rumana CP -- It is forbidden to give Palestinians a key.
One tractor and eleven people are waiting. Two border patrol policemen, one policewoman and one woman soldier are already here. They are on time.
They open the middle gate and the gate in the direction of Taibeh-Rumana, but they can't open the gate in the direction of Umm-el-Fahm, where all of the people are standing. The lock is on the outside between the two gates
; a border policeman pushes his hands through the narrow space between the two gates. He tries over and over again, very patiently; shakes, pulls, hits the gate with a stone. They pass the key from one to the other but the lock does not open. One of those waiting takes a hammer from his tractor and offers it to the border policeman, but he does not take it. Another Palestinian suggests that they give him the key, perhaps it is easier to open from his side. They don't give it to him. The man turns to us and explains that the army is not allowed to give a key to Palestinians.
For 35 minutes, all of the people waited in the hot sun (see photo). It is very hot. One person complains that they have taken away the container that served as a shed. He asks us to help get it back. Another person lies down on the road and tries to hide in the shade of the gate.
16:20 A border policeman, who is busy with his own vehicle, says (to his friends, not, God forbid, to the Palestinians) that they will soon bring another key.
16:35 The key arrives. One more small effort and the gate opens.