'Anabta, Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim), Jayyus, Jubara (Kafriat), Tue 30.7.13, Afternoon

Translation: Hanna Kahana

At Jayyus, two youngsters were detained three days ago, and the contents of the house were turned upside down.

The southern gate isn't opened lately.

At the Anabta CP there is a long queue and  Palestinian cars which drive in the direction of Tulkarm, are checked.

Observers: Lea Ben Naphtali, Ronit Dehan-Ramati and Karin Lindner

Our purpose was to pass at the agricultural gates of Jayus and to hear details about the detention of youngsters in the night between Saturday and Sunday. Another purpose: to introduce the new members to the northern part of the area where we hold our observations.

11:00 We arrived at Jayyus via Azzun and tried to find out at what time the gates are opened, because the information we have is not up to date. At the taxi station they couldn't tell us and accompanied us to the municipality, on top of the hill. From there one can well see the separation wall and its twists, and the earth-works which are a preparation for a new system road, north west to Jayus, for the new route of the fence.

A few municipality personnel joined us and asked us to come in.

They told us that three days before, at 02:30, soldiers had arrived at one of the houses, turned its contents upside down and waited until dawn for the young man they were looking for returned from the hospital, and detained him. Another young man was also detained in the town.

The municipality persons who were there couldn't tell us what the opening hours of the two gates at Jayyus were, but said that one of them, the southern one, hadn't been opened for at least a fortnights. One person's father goes there every day in the hope to find it open – and returns deceived.

11:50 We returned to watch the view, when a man who said that the gate would be opened at 12:00, arrived. Two locals joined us and we drove to the northern gate. It was black, sooty. They told us that boys had borned tyres next to it. On the yellow signpost above the gate no opening hours appeared of course, neither its number. We waited for 20 minutes and left.

12:30 From Jayyus we drove northwards, via Kafr Sur and A-Ras, to Jubara, with explanations about the history of the place. There is almost now sign of the checkpoints which were such a nuisance for the inhabitants of the village which confined in the seam area, and was disconnected from the rest of the West bank. We stopped near the fence and looked at the Teenim Ceckpoint.

Back to the village of Sur and from there we turned east in the direction of Kur, up to the out branching and from there we continued in the direction of north east, via Beit Lid, to road no. 60 and northwards to Anabta.

13:20 Anabta CP

To our surprise we saw a long queue of Palestinian cars which hardly moved. We stopped on the side and went out to understand what was happening. We passed the many vehicles, in which there were many families with small children, dressed festively, waiting patiently. When we asked what was happening, some drivers told us that that was the situation during the whole day, they didn't know why. One was an Israeli. We went to the soldiers who let the vehicles pass one by one, and like in the good old days made a sign to the vehicle which waited at a distance of 20 or 30 meters, to approach.

We asked the soldiers why there was such a long queue and they said that we had no right to be there and also that they did it in order to prevent Jewish Israelis to enter Tulkarem. I didn't sound logical, because they let the vehicles pass so slowly and at a random search of papers, they were always Palestinian cars. The soldiers demanded immediately that we leave and stopped letting cars pass. I said they had no right to do this, but we left and I phoned the humanitarian center in order to complain. The clerk said that she would find out and come back to us, but didn't do it. When we reached the car and turned in the direction of Enav, the queue was even longer, we couldn't see its end.

14:00 Irtah

Many workers return from their work in Israel, earlier than usual because of the Ramadan. When we asked they said that there were no problems when they left in the morning. We met an elegant young woman, who spoke fluent American (she had received a scholarship and obtained a degree in Business Administration in the U.S.) with her brother. They were leaving for Israel "for a breath of fresh air" on their way to the beach in Netanya.