'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 7.1.08, Afternoon

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צופות ומדווחות: 
Lea R., Neta J. (reporting)
07/01/2008
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אחה"צ
Seriously? Does this make us safer?

Translator: Devorah K.


14:00 Shaked-Tura CP
There is very little traffic at this time. One man goes through from the West Bank to Daher el Malik with a battery-operated radio and a kerosene lamp packed in a cardboard box. He shows us the lamp to illustrate the fact that Daher el Malik, Hirbed Raadiye and Umm el Reihan, all in the seamline zone, are not connected to the electricity network while their neighbors across the fence, like Tura, have already been connected.
Today there is no school because it is the Greek Orthodox Christmas. It is also Fatah Day, and they tell us that tomorrow there will be no school either.

14:25 Reihan-Barta'a CP
Only two pickup trucks are waiting for inspection. Workers are beginning to come back from picking oranges in Israel, carrying sacks of fruit. In the morning they were forced to go through the CP at Shaar-Efraim-Irtach, but they are allowed to return home from here as well. One man tells us that last night soldiers grabbed him in the olive grove close to his house in Ya'abed and they tore up his ID card. He shows us half of the green plastic cover and in it the most important page of the ID. They tore up the second page with the names of his children. He told us that he will get a new ID in the Palestinian Authority offices in Jenin. We did not understand whether he wants to file a complaint. We will try to find out about this.

14:45
A few men spread prayer rugs in the shed and pray.
A young fellow went through the terminal to the West Bank without a permit. His two friends have been detained inside for more than an hour. They also do not have permits - they are 'illegal sojourners.'
A woman wants to visit her children in East Barta'a. They did not let her go through. She says that she had a permit valid until the 15 of January, but they took it from her in the terminal. At the DCO they tell us on the phone that she has no permit.
A resident of Kafin wanted to change the agricultural permit for the Kafin CP to one for the Old Barta'a CP, which is nearer to his land, but at the DCO, they did not agree to do this.
The January 3 report said that the road from Kafin to Barta'a was open. As it  turns out, unfortunately, that information wawrong. It is possible to go through the agricultural CPs of Kafin and Barta'a, or the Reihan-Barta'a CP, but only with appropriate permits.

15:15
  The seamstresses are beginning to come back from their jobs in East Barta'a to the West Bank. They look pretty and orderly just as they are in the morning when they go out to work. A man who went through the Shaar-Efraim-Irtach CP in the morning told us that they had a new piece of inspection equipment, "round and transparent". He worries that it is injurious to people's health. There was, he saida similar thing at the Damia Bridge and it was taken away. Perhaps our colleagues who are doing observations in Irtach can find out what the story is.
A police car comes into the Palestinian parking lot. We do not know why.

15:30
A'anin CP
The gatesinfo-icon are still open. One man stands near the soldiers. They say he did not go through this CP in the morning. An additional man arrives. The soldiers ask him to translate for them and afterwards he goes through.
The second lieutenant at the CP does not have the form for appropriating permits. They read the wording to him by phone and he writes out a form in longhand, takes away the man's permit and gives him the form, written in Hebrew of course.
According to the second lieutenant, the man has come from Israel, from the same road that we came on.
Near the gate there is a piece of cardboard with the names of those who go through at this CP written out in a neat list. Somebody has organized the queue. We counted 38 names.

15:50
Another man arrives. Luckily for him, the gates are still open. The man goes through and the second lieutenant tells him not to be late. The official opening hours are from 15:00 to 15:30, but according to the second lieutenant they change all the time.

15:55
We phone our friend A. at the Reihan-Barta'a CP. He tells us that there are no particular problems and that the police car has driven off. We also leave.