Sansana (Meitar Crossing)

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Observers: 
Yael Agmon; Translator: Charles K.
Dec-28-2014
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Morning

The final morning shift in 2014.

 

05:00  Departure from Shoket junction.

05:10  A long line at the entrance to the cage at the Meitar crossing, which is unusual, indicating a change at the checkpoint.

05:23  The first indication of congestion, crowding, young men cutting into the line, then calm returns temporarily.

05:33  Again people crowd in, jump over others, not really with any justification because people are flowing through steadily, no one is screaming through the loudspeakers, the revolving gatesinfo-icon remain open all the time.

05:50  Three men and one woman stood at the humanitarian gate.  I sent an SMS to Gil’ad, the checkpoint manager; two minutes later he appeared to open it.

This is the first time I’ve met him, and it’s an opportunity to determine why there’s been for the past month congestion and crowding we’re not used to at this checkpoint.  He explains that on Sundays 7,000 people now go through, a significant increase compared to the recent past when between 5,000-6,000 crossed.

He says there are no problems on other days of the week because most of those crossing sleep in Israel.  The Palestinians told us the same thing.

I asked him to open earlier on Sundays.

I used the face-to-face meeting to find out whom to call during the early morning hours.  He said to call him at any hour.

06:50  No lines at all; occasionally people still arrive.

07:00  Back to Israel; we’re sent to have our vehicle inspected, M., our driver, objects and we immediately contact Gil’ad, the checkpoint manager, to free us from the inspector’s caprice.  He arrives with another staff member and releases us.

On Saturday the busiest part of the checkpoint is the vehicle inspection, checking Israeli Arabs returning from visiting relatives and shopping in the Palestinian Authority.  There are now six vehicle inspection lanes.