Rihan, Tuesday, 25.7.06 AMObservers: Yocheved G, Hedva H09:30 – 11:30The soldiers at the entrance to the checkpoint look as though on vacation at a recreation centre, seated or rather sprawling, with no one coming and nobody going.At the entrance to the vehicle checkpoint perhaps ten vehicles waiting to be checked, and only one tender loaded with vegetables waiting in the Palestinian parking lot.Twenty people waiting at the pedestrian gate. According to them the soldiers stopped processing and passing people through the gate more than an hour ago.At 10:15 the gate opened, after a phone call of ours to the DCO. It is not clear whether that was what caused the opening, but the important thing – people begin to pass.The process was a trickle, two at a time, and maximum three. Within a few minutes the line vanishes.A 16 year old approaches us excitedly to relate that his father, who came with him, is detained in the terminal. They are headed from Bartaa to the West Bank, to Nasarin near Nablus where they live. At his request we approach the terminal to elicit the reason for his detention, and we don’t receive a clear answer. All we are told is that the man is being checked. After waiting in the entrance, to no effect, we go to the checkpoint commander to try for a clarification, and we do not get a clear answer from him. Back to the Palestinian parking lot to find that the father is being released exactly at that moment.Perhaps patience is the name of the game here. After thanks from father and son, who had seen how hard we tried on their behalf… we leave.