'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, יום ג' 30.10.07, בוקר

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Observers: 
Tami S, Shula B (reporting)
Oct-30-2007
|
Morning
Aanin, Rihan, Shaked  checkpoints
05:50 - 07:45

05:50 Aanin Checkpoint
Only men coming out of the checkpoint, the minority turning to olive groves and the others going wherever. This year`s olive crop is thin and it`s very sad.
A man asks help in organizing an olive picking permit for his brother – a little late for that, but we directed him to the DCO.
N. tells us about a clan dispute that began in a brawl between youngsters and ended with people wounded. The family that did the beating was required to leave the village for three months, but not before they paid the beaten family 5,000 dinars in compensation.

06:15 Rihan Checkpoint

As usual for this hour, the adults come out of the terminal in the direction of the transports, more relaxed than the youngsters, and they hasten to wish us a good morning. The youngsters are furious. No one forgoes their double inspection. The seamstresses complain that they were delayed a long time inside, this time not in the side rooms but in the document check.

Seems that they take everyone into the terminal, and there`s no trace of a line outside, but inside the line is long and crowded, and the inspections are prolonged, taking precious time. They are all rushing to their transports to get to work.

In the lower Palestinian parking lot, scores of egg trays are stacked under the roof since yesterday. Because of the restriction of the amount allowed on a vehicle, it cannot all be transferred in one day. The hut begins to look like an egg warehouse.

Eight pick up trucks are waiting with agricultural produce. At the vehicle checkpoint, three vehicles are being inspected in parallel together with a private car. All the car doors are open, the drivers sitting on a side, the guards check without interference.


Personal note: in my eyes the abundant gardening at Rihan Checkpoint reflects the ugly Occupation more than any soldier’s drawn rifle. The exaggerated investment in decorating the place is hypocritical and insufferably patronising. A line of cypresses, climbing plants, large urns with flowers and shrubs, mixed coloured gravel and the rest of Feng Shui creations within barbed wire fences, iron mesh, creaky gatesinfo-icon and concrete walls. Veritable Garden of Eden. And the last word is not yet said. What about waterfalls? Maybe a fountain? Rape and decoration...


07:10 Shaked Checkpoint On the Tura side (West Bank) a group of men is waiting. It seems that the soldiers are giving priority this morning to people coming from the Seam Zone, most of whom are schoolchildren and teachers.
A year ago, the small children would run towards us happily, the youths would willingly answer a "good morning," the girls would smile shyly. Today, from large to small, all demonstrate deliberate ignoring that cannot be mistaken.
07:25 they begin to pass from the West Bank to the Seam Zone. Each in turn enters the hut and comes out after five minutes with trouser belt in hand, and shoes unlaced.