Jalama

Jalama, Sunday,February 6, 2005, AMObserving and reporting: Chasida S.; Guest: Israel08:15 - 09:30Summary: Quiet. A slow movement of pedestrians. Nearly no vehicular traffic.From the fact that there were few pedestrians at this rather late hour of the morning, we gathered that the workers passage went well with no special problems. This is true, of course, for those presenting the proper permits. The permits need to be requested in Salem, but can be obtained in the Palestinians' District Coordination Office (DCO), in Jenin.A few employers wait for their employees at the exit from the workers passage. Passage is conducted , as usual, inside the fenced "sleeve." It begins with the carousel-like doors followed by the inspection table.After checking with his superiors, the checkpoint commander at the vehicle inspection post, N., gave us permission to walk over to the waiting shed, by the south side of the checkpoint. Luckily, at that time it didn't rain. We found the shed empty and there was one person in the process of being inspected.An Israeli citizen wanted to go from the Israeli side to the Palestinian side of the checkpoint to hand out money to someone who was waiting for him. He was sent to make that transaction at the "luggage terminal."We went to that luggage terminal and observed buses entering the lot, to pick up families of prisoners for visits. The families were in the midst of the inspection process, which took time. The man who wanted to give out the money was asked to wait until the families completed their inspections and drive off from there. There were other vehicles in line waiting to load and unload merchandise.