Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Thu 26.8.10, Morning

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Observers: 
Tamar M., (filming), Michaela R. (reporting)
Aug-26-2010
|
Morning

6:45 Zeitim Crossing

Few crossing, passage is swift.  We crossed eastward and returned through the checkpoint.   Tamar's Polish passport proved to be a grave challenge to the system.  After a prolonged delay during which Tamar was first required to stand on the side, then to wait for a policeman in the third corridor, I went to fetch her Israeli passport from the car. 

What happens to a tourist without an Israeli passport?

Wadi Nar

When we arrived we found two men delayed in a private car.  We couldn't tell how long they had been there, but the delay continued for a long time, and would have been even longer had it not been for our intervention.  Young soldiers and military policemen, apparently new to the area, were on duty. 

Most of the vehicles crossed without checks.  Now and then the policeman remarked to the soldier, or the soldier to the policeman, that cars were waiting, and received a jocular reply.

Most of the time both security personnel were idle, sitting in the shelter, smoking and drinking coffee.

Time passed, the two chaps still waited while no one seemed to be attending to their plight. We made a round of phone calls, after which we noted a call arriving to the booth, and then a flurry of forms  being filled.  A report was written, then nothing again.  No rush... There's time enough... After a while, another phone call to the booth, and this time the ID's are returned to the detaineesinfo-icon and they're on their way.