Rihan

Rihan, Sunday, December 26, 2004, PMObservers: Chani R., Carmel B., Limor B. (reporting)Shaked checkpoint - 13:30At this time there are no children at the checkpoint. Soldiers on site say that the children already passed, about 100 of them, 20 minutes prior to our arrival. They say that there are cameras in the CP and as soon as the pupils arrive they can see them and come over to open the gate. There are changes in the pupils' arrival time when they have exams.Rihan checkpoint - 13:55Five cars are waiting in line at the checkpoint. The soldiers do not allow them to park in front of the pedestrian inspection post. The CP commander, Lieutenant A., explains that the reason for that is that drivers stand there for long periods of time and observe the soldiers. One soldier uses foul language toward a cab driver, yelling at him to "Fly off" and to "Beat it!"Today there seems to be relief in terms of transferring goods: A van loaded with eggs and another loaded with plants passes through the gate with no problems, except for two sacks of fertilizer on another vehicle that were not allowed in. One of the children tried passing one such sack in the pedestrian passage and he too was refused.The regulation regarding Arab Israelis holding blue ID cards is that they are not allowed into Area A. (full Palestinian control). They are being asked what their destination is, and if the answer is Jenin or Ya'abed, they cannot go in. The police recommend not going to Ya'abed, while other villages are okayed.The soldiers inspect boxes of potatoes; these are small plastic boxes. A soldier orders a Palestinian to pour out the contents of the box on the floor of the car's trunk, while asking him, "What about the hashish?"A., a military police soldier, yells at those passing through, and speaks rudely to them. She does not allow passage to a Palestinian who arrives at the gate with a permit for gate number 13, because these are gates 4 and 5. We've recommended that he try talking to the CP commander, which he did, and the kind commander is willing to let him through. The female soldier demands that the commander not do so, and the rest of the soldiers support her, yelling: "Don't give in, be a man." The Palestinian does not go through.A driver who crossed the white line was asked to go back and he refused. The soldiers started closing the gate on his car. Finally he backed off and they took his license, giving it to the checkpoint commander. The driver, who has a blue (Israeli) ID card, is delayed for more than half an hour. The commander tells him that he'll get his papers back only if he turns around and drives back into the territories. The commander says: "No one is to talk to the soldiers at the CP in such a way."In contrast to the above, a car driven by settlers from Mevo Dotan drives through the checkpoint, without, of course, stopping for inspection. They drive fast through a "stop" sign, enter a "No enter" lane and drive against traffic, disappearing into Israel.