'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Jalama, Tura-Shaked, Thu 25.4.13, Morning

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Observers: 
Neta Golan, Shula Bar
Apr-25-2013
|
Morning

Translator:  Charles K.

 

06:10  A’anin checkpoint

Inspections were carried out opposite the entrance gate to the checkpoint, near us.  A few people waited at the middle gate to be called for inspection, and from the shouting we heard there must have been a mess at the lower gate.  Soon everyone, including the tractors, arrived at the middle gate, and we were told by those exiting that people were shoving, didn’t want to stay in line and that the soldiers got annoyed.  A few young men were sent back home after arguments.  A man who came through on a horse asked us to help his friend who’d been sent back to the village right before our eyes.  Only after the checkpoint closed were we able to talk to a female MP who politely explained that she sends people (mostly younger men) back who appear likely to be planning to remain illegally in Israel:  someone with a bag of clothing and a charger for his phone doesn’t intend to come back this afternoon.

 

Husni, the redhead, approached us – his 8-year old grandson has a blood disease.  He has an appointment this coming Sunday at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, but they haven’t yet been able to obtain an entry permit to Israel.  With Chana Barg’s help we learned that the appointment doesn’t yet appear in any hospital’s registry.  We explained to Husni what he must do; let’s hope he manages to complete the complicated arrangements by Sunday.

 

People we spoke to said they didn’t trust the Palestinian state or its leadership.  What difference will  a state make, they said; all the money will stay at the top and we’ll never get what we need or the rights we’re entitled to, like you have.

 

07:10  Shaked checkpoint

No one went through the checkpoint before 07:20, though officially it opened at 07:00.  The people usually crossing at this hour waited at the gate near us – pupils, teachers, government workers, other workers.  The soldiers had forgotten the key to the lock of the fenced corridor and everyone waited for it.  The soldiers could have taken that into account and let them go through the center of this little checkpoint, but no – ordnung muss sein.  The line at the far gate on the Tura side also grew longer.  The lines and the mess hadn’t gone away by the time we left.

 

07:45  Reihan checkpoint

We drove by on our way to the Zebda bridge.  The parking lot next to the bridge was full; the number of Palestinian vehicles increases every day and creates a shortage of parking spaces.  Nine loaded commercial vehicles stand on the road to the vehicle checkpoint and merchandise inspection station.

 

 

09:00  Jalameh checkpoint (Gilbo’a crossing)

A father and son wait for me to drive them to Rambam hospital.  They crossed before the 08:50-9:20 break but we can’t leave yet because we must wait for the mother and three-month-old daughter who undergoes daily dialysis at Rambam.

 

I approach the closed terminal entrance.  A guard in the tower who doesn’t realize I’m Israeli calls “Iftah el bab [open the door].”  Another guard, armed with a threatening weapon, tells me to move away from the opening because it’s a security area.  Meanwhile Palestinians arrive, open the gate in the fence and cross to the West Bank without having to go through the terminal.

 

09:20  The terminal doors open.  Palestinians now arriving cross quickly to the West Bank through the terminal.  Some come through in the other direction, to Israel.

 

09:55  The mother and infant daughter cross accompanied by the father who carries their belongings.  The father returns to the terminal and we drive off.

 

Throughout my stay at the checkpoint there was a flow of cars belonging to Israeli Arabs at the vehicle checkpoint, on their way to the West Bank.  People aren’t yet returning to Israel at this hour.