'Anin, Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 30.4.09, Morning
Translation: Devorah K.
06:05 A'anin CP
All together about a dozen people, two donkeys and one tractor go through. People say that there are not many going through because many do not have permits. A representative of the DCO, a sergeant, is at the CP.
06:30: The DCO representative leaves the CP and it is possible to talk to him. He says that in this season, which is not an olive-picking season, there are about 200 agricultural permits. He does not understand why so few are going through. At the last minute, just before the gates
are locked, a man arrives, and goes through.
06:45 Shaked-Tura CP
On the way to the CP there are Independence Day posters marking thirty years of settlements in Northern Samaria. They do not say anything about the forty-two years of the occupation. The soldiers get organized to open the CP at 07:00. A boy and a girl of about seven years of age have already arrived. They are used to this, and do not enter the CP area even though the gate in the direction of the seamline zone is open. The first to go through from the West Bank to the seamline zone is a sick little girl with her parents. They had to go through the inspection pavilion. A volunteer helps them get to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
About twenty-five people are on the side of the West Bank near the turnstile waiting to go to the seamline zone. School children, university students and teachers going from the seamline zone to the West Bank have the right of way. They do not let people going in both directions into the inspection pavilion at the same time and the people coming from the West Bank have to wait. In the course of three quarters of an hour only about fifteen people went through to the seamline zone. Cars go through alternately in both directions. What happens is that drivers have to wait for their passengers who have to go through the pavilion.
07:45 The representative of the DCO is here too. He says that the residents asked for the pupils from the school to have the right of way. I remind him that until two months ago, the children went through the gate directly; they did not have to go into the pavilion and there was no problem. His answer is that the instructions have been changed. About a dozen people are still waiting. The representative from the DCO says that the pupils have already gone through and now the adults will go through in ten minutes.
08:00 Reihan-Barta'a CP
In the upper parking lot, on the side of the seamline zone, drivers are waiting for the passengers who work in East Barta'a. Three cars are waiting to go through to the West Bank. In the Palestinian parking lot, there are only a few drivers; there are no passengers at this time. The workers and the tradesmen from East Barta'a arrive in small groups and enter the terminal immediately. One of them greets me, saying 'Happy holiday!' for Independence Day. 08:20 Nine loaded pickup trucks are waiting for inspection. four cars are being inspected.
09:05 Jalameh CP
There are many cars in the parking lot. Arab citizens of Israel are going through for visits on the West Bank. I pick up a mother and her daughter, and a father and his son, who are on their way for treatment at the Rambam Hospital. The father says that the passage was quick, because they arrived after the workers had all gone through.