Tarqumiya, Thu 27.3.08, Morning

Arrival time: 05:45

Upon arrival (in the morning light!) the covered area was full of workers. We immediately noticed that everything was moving very quickly. The workers and the soldiers were smiling. We counted 27 people going though the checkpoint per minute.

 The workers told us that there had been a lot of problems and delays the previous day, but they didn’t know why. They wanted to know why we hadn’t been there yesterday…

There was a long line of cars and trucks waiting to pass through. An Israeli truck belonging tried to bypass the line. The driver was furious when the soldiers sent him back into line. We were pleased that there was no favoritism.

 We asked a soldier to explain what we had seen two weeks ago when a new check post was suddenly opened on the other side of the road. The soldier explained that this occurs when civilian checkers come to practice the procedures. He had no idea why the new check post remains closed.

At 6:30 with almost no one left on line, we left.