'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:35 – Reihan – Barta'a Checkpoint
Many workers are waiting for their organized transport to work in Israel and in the seamline zone on the seamline zone side of the checkpoint. Other independent vehicles are waiting to drive workers to other places. Many are going to Israel to the city of Harish that is under construction not far from here. As usual people have nowhere to sit and there is no shelter from the wind and rain. We went down to the entrance to the checkpoint on the side of the Palestinian parking lot. To our surprise there was no waiting line and everyone who arrived went directly into the inspection facility (the terminal) There were not a lot of cars but we were told that the attendants direct anyone to the western end of the parking lot to make room for cars that arrive in the afternoon so they would not have to park on the main road.
It is very cold! We spoke with people we know about the situation. We were told that yesterday, Sunday, was much more crowded. People complained that on Fridays the checkpoint only opens at 07:00 and closes at 16:00, making things very difficult for people. Someone else complained about the cracks that were made in the road at Yaabed – Dotan checkpoint that force drivers to slow down but cause a lot of damage to their cars. At 06:00 a line began to form but people still entered the terminal relatively quickly.
06:25 – A'anin Checkpoint
The soldiers arrived at 06:29 and opened the gates
to the checkpoint. The first Palestinians crossed from the West Bank to the seamline zone within five minutes and greeted us. About 80 people and four tractors crossed. A woman with a child waited under the shelter until a tractor arrived to take them. (Pedestrians cross first and the tractors follow.) Another woman came with her 19-year-old son who was not allowed to cross with her ID card since a person his age is supposed to have his own ID. A 12-year-old boy who came with his father was permitted to cross.
By 07:00 everyone had crossed and the soldiers began to close the checkpoint when more people arrived and were permitted to cross. Two other people were sent back to the village but we did not know why.
07:10 – Tura Shaked Checkpoint
Everyone had already crossed. Two men were laughing and attempting to extract a shekel coin from the barbed wire fence. A Palestinian arrived with a horse and wagon. We didn't see any children. They are evidently still on winter vacation.
We left for home at 07:20..