South Hebron Hills, Tarqumiya, Zif Junction

We drove to the Tarkumiya checkpoint because we had arranged to meet with a person from the area who asked for our help. When we met him he asked for help with a bureaucratic procedure that he had with the tax and collection authority. We acted as required according to the instructions given to him in Arabic. What takes a Hebrew speaker 10 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, takes an hour and a half. We were asked to wait, to wait and wait. There was a demonstration of the attitude towards a person who speaks Arabic. Finally we got help from a friend of Muhammad who works in the post office in Israel, and the problem was solved within 5 minutes.

But there was no time left to do anything else on our shift.

Route 35: Everything looks normal. All the settler farms are standing firm.

Route 60: The traffic was routine . The checkpoints  at Shuyukh-Sa'ir are open.

Roads 356 and 317: Dirat-Zif Junction - the ruins remain. No army movement was seen.

Checkpoint 11 – There is a breach  in the fence near the Meitar checkpoint: Everything is working as usual. There is movement of people on both sides of the fence.

We saw women and men who seemed to be returning from Soroka hospital. They cross the official checkpoint on foot and continue to the breach, where vehicles are waiting to take them home.

Idiocy  we already said?

In the photo, Smadar and I at Tarkamiya with the person waiting for her phone answer from the collection and tax authority.