'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Tue 1.11.11, Afternoon
Translated by Dvora K.
15.05 A'anin CP
Soldiers are busy opening the gates
of the CP. Fewer than 20 people and a tractor are waiting for the opening. Later another few dozen joined them.
The procedures at the front of the CP: One by one people come up to the woman soldier in a very orderly manner. The soldier, working methodically, receives the permit and the number of the resident. Without any excess words, she makes a note on the pages in her hand and reads the name of the next person. If, God forbid, two people start to come towards her, she stops one of them saying, in Arabic: "one at a time, one at a time," and that's that. The second person goes back. At her side there is an armed soldier with his gun turned to the residents. He stands in different places, but his arms are always in the right direction.
Nobody knows when the olive-picking will end. Don't worry, the DCO will tell them!!
Shafik, the nice old man with the old donkey, as old as he is, who stubbornly persisted in getting to his grove, does not come any more. His donkey was stolen and his children come in his stead.
15:30 People are arriving at the CP all the time. We left.
15:40 Shaked-Tura CP
The CP is empty and deserted. A little boy from the isolated house goes through with his cart to the West Bank. Apart from him no one comes to the CP. That went on for ten minutes of our stay there. From every point of view, this CP is like a bone stuck in the residents' throats. It is so out of place. It arouses so much anger.
A bus of the Council for the Development of Samaria emerges from the Shaked road. We will see it at the Reihan CP and there we will discover, on its back end, a sign inviting people to tour Samaria, to become acquainted with the Land of Israel. That is what it says.
16:00 – 16;45 New Barta'a CP
At this time workers are returning to the West Bank and we wait with them at the opening of the terminal. They are tired, stand quietly and patiently on the queue that is too long. The turnstile opens only for a few seconds and people get stuck with their bodies half in and half out. They continue talking to one another while the turnstile presses down and separates them. The woman who works at the reception window makes sure that not too many people stand nearby.
At a certain point the manager, Sharon, arrives and opens an additional window. For a few minutes, it seems that things flow, in the full sense of the word. But Sharon is a very busy man, and he leaves the matter in the hands of one of his assistants and goes off. Within a few minutes, everything is a mess as it was before.
Why must they use this turnstile? Why isn't it possible to operate more than one window when there is pressure? What are all the workers doing in the parking lot that is reserved for them (we counted 23 in only one corner of this gigantic CP)? What are they doing there?
The national park, "Reihan Pass", is developing. Every square centimeter is calculated and planned thoroughly. Does the Council for the Development of Samaria bring tours here as well? What do the owners of the land think when they see this exaggerated attention to fostering this monstrous thing on their land? Who cares? They do not count anyway.