Reihan, Shaked, Tue 25.12.07, Morning

Translation: Devorah K.

0605-0700  Reihan (Barta'a) CP

On the upper parking lot, workers from Shahak and others are waiting for the latecomers stuck in the inspection rooms inside the terminal. The delay in the rooms, in addition to the humiliation, makes people late for work or requires them to get up very early. This is true for the seamstresses too (over 100 every morning) who complain all the time about the inspections in the rooms. We are told that the day before, people were stuck in the terminal for over three hours because something was out of whack. Who would bother to tell them why there was a delay? Who would bother to apologize? Let them wait! On the lower parking lot, Walid shows us a page with a list of people waiting to enter the terminal; 74 were waiting for the CP to open. By the time we arrived all of them had entered.

Ameriha CP: It seems that there is still terrible disorder in this CP. Drivers tell us that for several days now, convoys of 20-30 vehicles have been queuing and waiting to go through. The residents of Yaabed and Ameriha are required to prove that they are residents of the villages by showing what is written on their IDs. Others are required to present entrance permits and permits to stay in the seamline zone. All of this does not free them from daily vehicle inspections, sometimes more than once a day.  That is the way the Palestinians pass their lives -- waiting to go through from one district of their country to another and in the meantime going through humiliating inspections, nosy questioning and angering interrogations. As noted, all of this is because of a superfluous settlement, Mavo-Dothan.

07:05 - 07:20 Shaked (Tura) CP

Workers from the West Bank are leaving for work in the seamline zone. There is a new fashion: bicycle riding. Today is a holiday because it is Christmas, there is no school and no pupils.

07:30 - 08:00 Old Barta'a CP

Here the farmers from Kafin, Daher el Abed, Akrabeh, and Yaabed who have land in the seam zone go through. It is opened twice a day; the farmers stand at the edge of the CP as usual, before the mud embankment (a blurred road), their IDs are taken for making a list, their possessions are inspected; today 16 workers went through. Soon, there will be a systematic list with the names of everybody who wants to go through this CP.

08:10 - 08:50 Reihan (Barta'a) CP

We are told about nightly patrols of military Hummers in Yaabed, and the harrassment and the tension of the residents. Two women with their little children ask to go through to East Barta'a to see a doctor for one of the children who is sick. They do not have a permit and still they insist. The heads of the security firm are not there. The others bring their request to the representative of the DCO on location and he sends the women with due courtesy to the DCO to get a permit. They accept the offer and go there.

8-9 pickup trucks loaded with all kinds of goods are waiting to go through.

Four cars with doors wide open are being inspected at the CP. The name of the game: "Waiting". First they wait in a queue, now in the big tent, they wait for the women to come and inspect them, they wait for the dog to complete the inspection, wait for the goods to be x-rayed, wait for the return of the documents. And then they can drive away in peace and have a good -- rest of the day! At the same time, the lords of the land go through the CP in all speed because their time is dear. The guards in the hut notice them, lift their arms in a kind of salute, and in a split second, they are through -- and gone.