Reihan, Shaked, Mon 29.12.08, Morning
Translation: Devorah K
06.00 A'anin CP
The crossing has just begun and only three people went through. Below, about forty people are waiting. This is a relatively small number. Those leaving greet us and go on their way quickly. One man complains about the permits not being renewed on time. Soldiers record all the personal details of those going through. On the side of the road, there are about thirty thoroughly wet sacks of sawdust; they were thrown away after somebody was not allowed to transport them.
06.30
About 25 people are still waiting to leave. We left.
06.45 Reihan-Barta'a CP
In the lower parking lot there is only one sleepy driver. About 120 people have already gone through includung the seamstresses and the workers from the Shahak industrial zone in Shaked. Here, too, the number is relatively low. It is possible that the residents are responding to the call for a general strike because of the situation in Gaza. In the CP there is no sign of any special arrangements.
07.05
From the loudspeaker there is a call in Arabic for two pickup trucks to enter for inspection. Only a few cars are going through to the seamline zone.
07.25
We begin to leave but we are detained. A security guard comes up to us and asks if we have given anything to Palestinians. We said that we had given them clothes, as usual. "Only that?" In the end they let us go. The feeling is that we are under persistent surveillance.
07.35 Shaked CP
A few dozen pupils are walking around the area of the CP, which is closed. A., from the DCO, says the "there is an incident." We ask him to let the pupils, who are preparing for a test, go through. He says that he will try, and does let them through. Near the pupils some university students and some teachers are also waiting. On the Tura side there are a few dozen workers. We found out that in the schools the boys and the girls are in separate classes. In two weeks they have tests, and after the tests they will have a mid-year vacation of two weeks.
08.00
The gates
of the CP are opened. Pupils race ahead; the adults present their ID cards and go on. From the other side workers go through the hut. On their way to the seamline zone, they pass behind an improvised stone wall that separates the path for vehicles from the path for pedestrians on the margins of an asphalt road. One person who tried to go through on the asphalt road was scolded and made to return to his place so that he would walk exactly in the place that he was expected to. The driver, the owner of the taxi that was detained in the CP last week, says that the people from the General Security Service interrogated him then, but he does not go into detail. There is no particular tension among those going through in either direction.
08.30 Reihan CP (the sleeve)
We are surprised by the large number of people going through in the direction of the seamline zone at this time. People are moving in groups; the procedure is routine and stable. The people are quiet, they do not talk to us except for routine greetings. In the half hour that we stayed there, a few dozen went through in the direction of Barta'a. A lot fewer people went through in the direction of the West Bank.
9.00 We left.