'Azzun 'Atma, Sun 10.8.08, Morning

  Overall

1. The brigade has given an instruction not to let us pass to the other side of the checkpoint where the lines and the inspections are. It looks as if there is an intention to force us out of the checkpoint and to prevent us from watching what is going on there, which poses a serious problem to maintaining our presence there.
2. Due to the ninth of Ab [a day of fasting and mourning; day on which the First and Second Temples are destroyed] the checkpoint is empty.

05:20 – We park our car near the greenhouses and call the driver to come take us to the checkpoint. To our surprise, the checkpoint is almost empty of people and cars. The workers explain that the reason is the Jewish Holiday which is today.

When we arrive and wish to pass to the other side of the checkpoint, where the workers come from, the commander, staff sergeant D., doesn't let us pass the checkpoint. According to him, people with Israeli ID cards cannot pass the checkpoint. If we insist, he says, we can get to the other side in any other way but not through the checkpoint. We call the IDF Humanitarian Center and after a while, following clarifying the matter with the Brigade, they tell us that this is the instruction of the Brigade commander. He demands that we stay behind the concrete blocks, about 20 meters away from the checkpoint, from where it is impossible to see anything. We continue arguing but since there are no people anyway, we leave the checkpoint.