Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
0720 - -745 Tura-Shaked
Continous traffic of vehicles, pedestrians and two herds of goats. All go through swiftly without delays. No one waits by the turnstile.
A military vehicle is waiting patiently on the road for cars which come from the direction of the Seam Line zone to pick up workers and move on.
It appears to us that some of those entering the Seam Line zone are teachers who come to oversee the matriculation examinations at Barta'a. They were picked up before we had a chance to talk with them.
0755 - 0825 Barta'a-Rihan
As usual, heavily packed with people. We haven't seen people waiting by the turnstiles. We timed 12 (wasted) minutes for people coming in from the West Bank. Traffic seems to stream along; two windows are open but later we were told that there were some problems with the computers for a few weeks, which caused delays in passage. The people reported this to us went through within half an hour this morning.
We were impressed by the fancy kiosk for coffee and baked goods which replaces the old coffee cart. The price list (today, Sabbath, the place is closed) indicates slightly cheaper prices then at the Ben Gurion airport. Il-chamdulilla (God willing), a day might come and this would be the gateway between the states.