Reihan, Shaked, Tue 26.7.11, Morning
Reihan CP 6.00
The upper parking lot is full of activity. There are many workers and many Transits. Three seamstresses come running to a car which is full and waiting for them. They tell us that they spent about an hour in the CP. In the enclosed pavilion, trucks loaded with goods and passenger cars are being inspected.
6.10– in the sleeve
leading from the terminal to the seamline zone, people going through are moving slowly. They tell us that inside there are many people, that the inspection is very slow, and that today, quite unusually, women were put into the siderooms for a very thorough inspection. Inside the terminal it is quiet.
6.20The detained women came out and told us that they were not required to undress. One of them is still in an inspection room and the driver waiting for her is very upset. He calls up somebody in the CP. When she emerges, at 6.30, she says that she was detained for inspection because the sleeve of her blouse was wet.
6.40– The workers emerge from the terminal at a reasonable pace.
Shaked CP – 6.55
Six soldiers 'crawl' to the CP and open it only at 7.10. About 50 people and a herd of sheep are crowded near the turnstile; the first of those going through to the seamline zone crosses the CP at 5.15.
On the side of the West Bank, a sick little girl is waiting with her mother to go through to the hospital in Israel . But she does not get any special treatment in going through the CP. Only after all the people have entered, and after the herd of sheep has gone through, and after a discussion between us and the soldiers – did they allow the car that brought the little girl to connect with the Israeli car that came to pick her up – to enter the center of the CP and to move her on from car to car. The little girl went on her way at 7.30. This procedure delayed all the activity in the CP.
Workers come out of the inspection pavilion very slowly. The Israeli who is responsible for the archeological dig, who has been coming here daily in the last two weeks to pick up workers, gets upset. His workers do go through in the end. As he puts it, 'The State of Israel loses points everyday in this way.'
7.45– The first worker for the dig comes out of the inspection room. Their bus enters the area of the CP and after a short conversation with the soldiers it is turned back. A loud argument between the Israeli responsible for the dig and the soldiers does not have any effect. The Israeli calls the DCO and hopes that something good will come of it. In his opinion, the soldiers are now 'showing him who is boss'. In the meantime, the workers tell us that when they used to go through the Kalandia CP on the way to similar work, they were inspected inside the bus.
8.00 Cars with passengers go through in both directions.
8.10 Finally, the workers' bus enters for inspection and goes through to the seamline zone. An hour of work in cool weather was simply lost.