Falamiya North Checkpoint (914), Falamiya South Checkpoint (935)
Flamiya north, gate 914
05:30. The gate is still closed. The weather is cold and drizzly. Early comers sit on rocks, brewing coffee. They immediately offer us coffee. It turns out that they are organizers of the May 1st strike that Zvia has reported. The reason for the strike is the late return from the fields. The officer had promised to return with a reply but so far had not done so.
05:45. The gate is opened and people enter in batches of five for checking and registering. One person said that recently 10,000 work permits have been cancelled because of the intifada. These people had no work and depended on work in Israel; now they are unemployed and their situation is dire.
Altogether 60 people entered, as well as 19 tractors with trailers, a car, a truck, donkeys, and a few bicycles. At 06:30 the gate was shut. We left a bit earlier for Flamiya south.
Flamiya south, gate 935
06:30. The gate is open and famers arrive constantly until 07:00.
Total entered: 11 tractors with trailers, one truck, 50 people. One tractor was forced to return to unload 4 sacks of sheep's manure for which there was not permit.
At 07:00 the gate shut.