Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked

06:00 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
The upper parking lot is filled with workers and cars. Many workers are coming up from the terminal toward it. On the Palestinian side the parking lot continues to fill up.  The line in front of the only turnstile is not especially long and the passage of workers is flowing.  From time to time the turnstile stops suddenly, without warning, for a worker or two returning to the West Bank from night shifts in the seam line zone. The turnstile serves also for those returning to the West Bank and therefore must be turned in the opposite direction. In front of our eyes, three workers were injured because of this.  Since the beginning of the construction work there has been no shade in the entire area.  A worker who forgot his identity card in the car, in the Seamline Zone, came to the checkpoint.  He knew the driver, but was unable to locate him.  We tried to help, and even went through the checkpoint a second time, spoke with his brother and met his uncle, who could not locate the driver as well.  Obviously, they did not let the worker go through without an identity card.

07:00 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
This time we arrived late, but were told that there were no problems with the passage this morning.  Several cars pick up men and women who had arrived from the West Bank and the checkpoint was quiet again.  We walked around a bit in the field next to the checkpoint, and a little after 08:00 we traveled to Daher el Malec, to see the change in the village, which has recently been connected to the electricity grid. Within a minute, we were invited for tea and coffee with Mrs. H., who sent her son to call a cousin who spoke Hebrew. They told us with happiness about the big change in their lives. We heard about the history of the village that was built by the Ar'ara family in 1929, and about the good relations with the neighboring settlements of Hinanit, Tal Menashe, and Shaked, where V. has worked as a gardener for many years.  In honor of the connection to electricity, neighbors heaped presents on them, including a washing machine. We heard (for the first time) that the night after the murder of the policemen on Temple Mount, a group of young Jews came to the village and succeeded in damaging two cars. Soldiers were called and arrived within minutes, and the rioters fled. 

Not far from Daher el Malec there is a very small village, Hirbet Ra’adiye, 7-8 houses, that people from Umm al-Fahm founded in 1948.  Our hosts thought the time has come to also connect that village to electricity.