Jalama, Tuesday, June 21, 2005, AMObservers: Yocheved G. , Lea R. (reporting)06:00 – 9:15The checkpoint opens at 6:00. Female agriculture workers told us that they arrive as early as 3:00 a.m. to catch a good place in line.Their employees’ drivers told us that our presence on site is crucial, and that as soon as we leave, the soldiers take ‘breaks’ and slow the inspection process.The car park area is dirty and neglected. One of the drivers tells us that Palestinians with work permits who work as gardeners in the settlements of Kadim, Ganim and at the northern part of the seam line zone, including workers with a special permit to work at the checkpoint area – are at this time not allowed to go through the CP. The few who are allowed in, are Palestinians who work inside Israel, holding passage permits, and a group of teachers. The teachers, well attired, are traveling to the Israeli prison of Damoun to take the prisoners exams. Prisoners are not allowed to study physics and chemistry; they can learn Arabic, English , biology and math. The teachers’ car is allowed to drive only to the prison and back without a stop. The teachers have a week-long permit.We crossed into the Palestinian side. There is a problem with the drinking water facility at the waiting shed: when one faucet is turned on, all the others go on at the same time.We met Palestinian workers who work in the seam-line zone and weren’t allowed passage today, despite the fact that their permits are valid until July 10. We called the District Coordination Office (DCO) and the brigade, asking how come they can’t go through today whereas it was okay yesterday and the day before. We were told to call a few minutes later, and then, we were told that no one is denied passage. I tried walking with one of the workers through the carousel and he was sent back. Bassem at the DCO was aware of this case because his contractor had called him regarding that problem. In the end, the contractor, who is a Druze and was injured doing military service in the IDF, got a permit for some of his workers and they went to work. I took the contractor’s phone number to follow up on the case tomorrow.