Burin has become the only way from which people can get to Nablus

13:30 - Habla

The Habla gate was closed, and many people were already waiting in the shed in blazing heat in an area where there were 2 soldiers who paid no attention.  After a quarter of an hour, a vehicle approached with the officer Tamer and another soldier.  He came over to us and said that, according to the regulations, there should be 4 soldiers and not 2, but he went in and closed the gate.  At 13:30 another 2 soldiers arrived.  Tamer went over to the people who were waiting in the shed and photographed their documents to make it easier for them to avoid waiting in line for the checking of ID's.

In the opposite direction from Habla, there was a line of loaded trucks waiting, and every one who entered from the direction of Habla required an inspection.

Before we left, I started to photograph. The female soldiers approached and asked me to erase the photos.  Of course, I did erase them, but I managed to photograph them before they opened the gate.

Sara checkpoint was closed and was not manned, but in the tower opposite there were lookouts, so I was not able to photograph.

Huwara - a few shops were open: a few groceries and a few garages on the main road;  very few people in the streets.

The same in Beita.  Everything was worn out and only a few shops remained open.  We went into one of the shops and asked why it was so silent.  They answered that people simply had no money for purchases. 

In Beita they told us that some of the settlers from Eviatar returned to the settlement and every day they come down, accompanied by soldiers, to the residents' houses nearby and harass them. 

14:30  Huwara is still closed. 

We continued to Awarta;  the checkpoint was manned and had long lines of vehicles in both directions, to Nablus and back from Nablus.

14:35  Beit Furik  A long line of vehicles in both directions, but more traffic among those from the directions of Nablus.  We moved about 200 meters from the checkpoint and went down to photograph.  Within seconds, a jeep and a military van arrived and the soldiers got out and began to interrogate us and took our names.  They photographed us and threw us out.

15:30  Burin; because of the closure of the Huwara checkpoint for those who wanted to go to Nablus or return from it, the village of  Burin has become the only way from which people can get to Nablus, so there is a lot of crowding of vehicles on the roads of Burin.

Out of curiosity, we wanted to see how this operates, so we rode behind the vehicles which were on their way to Nablus at the western exit between Burin and the village of Tell where there is a checkpoint with soldiers. So we travelled a long way around and suddenly realized that we had made a mistake and we were near the exit from the village Tell in the direction of Nablus.  We had to go back to Burin because the way which goes to the main road was closed (the Yitzhar road in the direction to the Gilad farm).