Sansana, Sun 13.4.08, Morning

03:50 -07:45

We had decided for once to get to the CP by 4 am to see for ourselves what happened in the critical early hours.

When we arrived there was already a queue of about 120. More and more transit vans arrived and by 04:20 there were some 350 men standing in line. Many told us that the CP usually opened late at  04:50 or 04:15 ( last Thursday, they said, it had opened at 05:00) and not as scheduled at 04:30. The massed pressure and general scrum caused by the late opening  (reported by many Palestinians) were mainly due to the men's fear of arriving too late for work and losing a day's livelihood.

  Today, however, the CP opened precisely on time –possibly of course because we had been seen from the watch-tower.

The need to open the CP not only at 4:30 but even earlier?  We were told by the men in the queue that the CP had been opened at 4 am for about 20 days last month-  They all wanted this to continue. Today the line, though long, moved forward fairly quickly and a man at the back of the queue whom we had noted at 4:35 reached the turnstile at 5:00- and emerged  on the Israeli side  20 minutes later.

We were told by one the men who had been at the end of the earlier queue and emerged from the CP at 5:20 to go back to the Palestinians side to see the enormous confusion and disorder that  had begun there. We did so.

Confusion and disorder after  05:00

When we got back to the Palestinian side there was an uproar with at least 500-600 men milling round the turnstile or packed like sardines 5 and 6 abreast in what had once been an orderly queue- the general effect was total chaos. Younger men were jumping over the fence and dropping from above into the turnstile. Those packed in the "queue" were angry but said they let it happen for fear of starting a fight. The turnstile was stationary when we came and moved very slowly afterwards. People seemed desperate – one man said if he did not get through in the next 10 minutes his transport on the Israeli side would go without him And he would have to pay 120 shekels for a taxi to his place of work (a kibbutz) He had already paid 20 for the taxi to the CP- so very little would be left of a day's wage.

An Israeli employer who had brought 10 men from Samoa was very bitter about the delays. He had waited an hour and a half to see his workers get through the CP – the fact that only 2 windows were open seemed to him absurd. He and others spoke approvingly of "the efficiency at Jerusalem where 8 windows at a time" were open. Many Palestinians told us the chaos had been created by the coming of a large number of agricultural workers who jumped the queue. (Later Shlomi said this was not the reason but admitted that the sudden terrible crowding after 5:00 needs looking into)

We telephoned Shlomi at 5:50 to ask him to intervene since the situation had become chaotic, Shortly afterwards we saw him jump onto the turnstile and shout to the milling crowd that if they didn’t stand in line properly he would take away their tasrich

Somewhat better order was restored and the turnstile opened more frequently with 20 -30 men going through every 10 minutes or so. By  6:55  the number  of waiting  men had considerably dwindled., (yet some still jumped the queue )  At 7:00 men were still arriving in small groups - but the line had thinned out and the pressure was over.

There is an urgent need to establish sleeves which start from the parking lot in order to prevent the scrum we saw. This was suggested by several Palestinians. We spoke to Shlomi who agreed to think about it.

Toilets –all four cubicles on the Palestinian side were now open and clean. The broken and blocked up toilet-seat reported on last week has been replaced, But there is still no electric light in the toilets.

The toilets on the Israeli side were open and clean and the electric light worked. We checked because the Palestinians had said the toilets on the Israeli side were always locked- when we told them they were not locked they said that the change was due to our presence. Lets hope not.

Food and Drink: The Palestinians are not allowed to take bottles of any kind (e.g. milk or olive oil) through the CP and they are confiscated if the Palestinians are carrying them. We were also told that packets of coffee were confiscated. We saw that pitas and cans of cola are allowed through.

Prisoners' families-buses

 7:00 am – the buses with the prisoners' families begin to arrive. There are 5 in all –going to Ramon jail. The checking always  starts at 8:00. The Red Cross representative gave us the number to call to find out when busses are due to arrive at the CP since the schedule is known only 24 hours in advance –in general they come three times a week. (Not for the website: his name is Maharan and his number is 054 6290355)

We've heared Complaint about the way food for the journey carried by the families is checked: What food is allowed –eggs, tomatoes and apples for e.g. gets jumbled together by the checkers and it is difficult to sort it out afterwards

No bottles of water or other liquids are allowed through. There is no kiosk or canteen at Ramon prison.