Jalama, Shaked, Rihan, Wednesday, March 29, 2006, AM Observers: Anna N.S., Neta J. (reporting)05:55 – 10:25 Jalama (Gilboa), 05:55 – 06:25 The ‘terminal’ was opened about a month ago. A closure has been imposed since Purim and will go on until after Passover. When we arrived, the new shift of soldiers also got there. Their commander, N., second lieutenant in the military police, a pleasant fellow, wanted to give us a tour, but later he apologized and said that we have to confirm permission for a tour by ourselves. We found out from him that on the days when there is no closure, about 350 people go through and the terminal is opened at 05.30; when there is a closure, it is opened at 06.30. In an hour, about 400 relatives of prisoners who are being held in Israel are supposed to go through. The time of their arrival is planned so that it will not interfere with the passage of the laborers. We were also told that the lot nearby, where the trucks of both sides meet to transfer goods back-to-back, is being refurbished and its management will soon be turned over to a civilian company. 07:10 – 07:40 ShakedThe gate is closed. Strangely enough, there are no pupils. One woman is waiting between the closed gates. Within 10 minutes, the soldiers arrive and open the gates. They do not know why there are no pupils and they are not willing to explain why they came late. A cart with a donkey arrives from Tura and takes the woman to the lone house. A teacher asks to go through to the school at Tura. He explains to us that because of the solar eclipse, the pupils stayed at home. Why? He says that a solar eclipse is witchery and it is best to be at home when it occurs. Between the gates, there are piles of gravel and dirt. We do not know what is being planned there. 07:50 – 10:25 Rihan One of the taxi drivers warns us about the eclipse. Two laborers on their way to work in Barta’a say that during the eclipse, they will be careful to be inside some building. An Jewish Israeli driver is not allowed to go through to the West Bank. His car is blocking the lane of the settlers and the army, and is causing a traffic jam. The soldiers cannot convince him to move, and after 20 minutes of nerve-wracking arguments, they allow the Palestinians to drive in the opposite lane. After about an hour is the driver finally convinced to leave. In the ‘sleeve’ we meet two Palestinians who are married to women from Umm al-Fahm. The women are Israeli citizens, but have not been granted the right of family unification. They tell us about the difficulties and about how civil rights were taken away from their Israeli wives and from their children, who are also registered as Israelis. About 15 people are waiting to go through, but the computers are down and nobody is allowed to go through. The CP commander, A., is angered when we try to find out what is happening. One of the two seamline volunteers who are now doing service here, helps him out. After some time, the people do go through. Trucks loaded with agricultural goods begin to go through before 8 o’clock. Cases of vegetables are unloaded and inspected with the help of a manual magnometer. Inspection of the vehicle, including the unloading and reloading of the goods, takes about half an hour. A tender loaded with beehives that were donated by the European organization, Care, asks to pass through to Umm al Rihan. A Palestinian woman who works in the organization has all sorts of papers in her hand and attempts to arrange for the passage with the help of telephone calls to the organization’s center in Jerusalem and to the District Coordination Office at Salem. The soldiers refuse to approve the bees’ passage. After innumerable telephone calls by the woman and the soldiers, the CP commander, a military policeman from the seam line, with trepidation and weapons at the ready, goes to the Palestinian parking lot. An apiculturist in a protective suit opens the hives to show that there really are bees in them. Drivers from the Palestinian parking lot told us that there is a surprise CP near Yabed and from time to time they close the exit from the village. A man from Yabed has come to meet his brother, who arrived on a visit from Germany. The Israeli taxi that drove the man from the airport is allowed to bring his luggage to the Palestinian parking lot. The tourist goes through the ‘terminal’. We left before the inspection of the beehives was completed.