Rihan, Shaked, April 19, 2006, AMObservers: Ilana A, Ana N-S (reporting) Rihan, 06:40 No closure (in the usual sense). The workers at Shahak Industrial Area and the seamstresses at Barta’a have already passed. Only a few people waiting. Not many entering the West Bank. Those coming out greet us with broad smiles: “Even on a holiday you come?” they ask “On a holiday [it was the last day of Passover] there is still occupation,” we say.A few taxis wait for passengers from each side.From the soldiers, we understand that yesterday there was some mixup, so transit was stopped for two hours, and then they opened again. The soldiers are from a new battalion and they don’t yet know the arrangements. The checkpoint commander is a settler who gained experience in the position at a checkpoint near Yizhar: “Everything there is okay!”At the vehicle checkpoint, the first pickup trucks with agricultural produce are beginning to arrive. Everything flows with boring slowness, and the routine of occupation, indifference and quiet despair create an atmosphere that makes it seem everything is all right; as if everything really is quiet and relaxed. Shaked, Rihan, 07:30 On the way to Shaked we pick up a hitchhiker – a worker from the carpet factory. We talked. The hourly pay fluctuates between 12 and 18 shekels, according to seniority, never more than that (in that case, how much can the seamstresses be earning?). They get 1.25 days off a month, work a 10-hour shift with a half hour break for lunch (unpaid). They get only one meal, in a bag – no kiosk or grocery. They receive pay slips once a month.Today he’s late because he didn’t know whether there was closure, or whether they work on a Jewish festival. He is from Um al-Rihan and his wife was born in Yabed. She is not permitted to live with him in his village, and he visits her and their children at her parents’ home where they live. He will try to get her moved to Um al-Rihan.The schoolchildren are crossing at the Shaked checkpoint. Each has an ID number that they must remember and give to the soldier, who sometimes checks it against the list in his hand. The small ones don’t have ID numbers, but they open their schoolbags, which are checked with a glance. Two soldiers with aimed weapons stand facing these “young enemies.”08:00 – the soldiers close the checkpoint. A 50 year old man arrives, running. From a distance he’s already begging them not to close. We also plead with the soldiers to wait just a moment, and remind them that we have been told that in such cases, the soldiers would wait and pass someone through.A soldier says: “Next time, come on time!”Another says: “He can wait till 12:00. So what!”We try to persuade. In the time that elapses, they could have opened and closed the gate a number of times, but the soldiers are confused. They phone their base to check and get a negative response. They are on their way to some operational activity, and no old man can be allowed to hold them up. We suggested to the man that he should come with us to Rihan and try his luck there, even though his permit is for Shaked only. At Rihan we told the District Coordination Office representative about the predicament, and he is allowed through. We wished the soldiers a Happy Passover and moved on to the vehicle checkpoint.Six or seven pickup trucks, and a slow and very methodical inspection.In the parking lot, we talked with the people waiting and learned about the checkpoint at Yabed that separates Yabed and Mevo Dotan. It is staffed on and off during the day and closed at 21:00, when the village is locked off and no is allowed in or out. In emergency cases, people come to the checkpoint and shout, and shout, and shout, until the soldier in the pillbox awakens and shouts back “I heard you, stop screaming!” Then they wait while he gets organized and comes down to determine the degree of severity of the situation and decides whether to open or not. And when he opens, for humanitarian cases only, it is done painstakingly slowly. Nothing is fast at a checkpoint.Under the bridge leading to Rihan checkpoint there is an additional rolling checkpoint, a last filtering before entry to the seam zone, apparently in order to lessen the intolerable pressure on this empty checkpoint. At Yabed village, according to the people, operational activities are held frequently. The residents live in uncertainty as to when the soldiers will enter their homes in the middle of the night and interfere with their already disrupted lives. We hear all this from residents, though we did not see.At 09:30 – we leave.