The Northern Checkpoints

6:30 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint

The junction north of the checkpoint is full of laborers and the cars that pick them up. We drive slowly through the parking lot.  A new cafeteria is operating in the shed. Farther down, we see many workers walking up the long sleeve. There are only two cars in the inspection station, while the parking lot for trucks waiting to go up for inspection is full.

6:50 Hermesh checkpoint

We visit here knowing that the checkpoint has long been inactive. This time we discovered that someone must have thrown a stone at the window of the abandoned watchtower and blew a hole in it. The direction signs, as we know, refer to "Jewish" settlements only, as if the road does not lead to Ya’abed, al-Yamun and Jenin. The last rain sprouted  "green grass on every mound" (from an old song..).

7:00 Ya’abed-Dotan checkpoint

Here, too, the checkpoint seems abandoned, which is unusual. Even at the top of the pillbox there is no movement. A few cars occasionally pass in both directions. It is so cold here that even sheep were not taken out to pasture. The anemones are wet, they haven't opened yet. Ya’abed is trying to bask in the sun and a red car enters the frame with perfect timing. The gate on the new road to the Maoz-Zvi settlement (and the olive groves of the Anwar family from Ya’abed) - is now wide open.

7:30 Tura-Shaked checkpoint

Someone passing through from the West Bank answers our question about how the crossing was: "It’s bad! They let people pass one every twenty minutes!" A group of workers crosses the barrier in two minutes and refutes his claim. They are picked up immediately in a private vehicle. They work in the nearby Umm Reihan. We want to know if their nights are quiet. One of Nazlat-Zayd reassures us with a smile: "It's fine with us, we sleep peacefully at night."

Our shift was too quiet. We are aware of what is happening not far from here but “sufficiently” out of sight, and worry.