Jalameh, Shaked , A’anin, Rihan, Monday, 22/05/06, am Anna N.S., Neta G. (Reporting)06.00 – 11.20 Jalameh CP 06.00-06.45 The area of the terminal is almost empty. Soldiers arrive to get information; about fifteen people are waiting on the Palestinian side; two drivers are waiting on the Israeli side – one for a patient who was invited for tests in Rambam and the second for laborers. The military police sergeant tells us that there is no closure. They open at 06.30 and merchants and people with different kinds of work permits go through. He says that every morning they get instructions for the day about how to conduct the passage; only 100 – 200 people go through daily. The people were required to get new permits.We take one of the workers with a permit (and happy about it) to the Megiddo junction. The man works in Midrach Oz. He thinks that within a month the number of workers will grow, because the distribution of new permits is proceeding quite slowly. He complains about how late the CP is opened.In front of the Israeli gate of the back-to-back lot about a dozen long trucks were waiting. Shaked CP 07.25-08.20 The gate is locked. About 30 pupils are waiting for it to open. The older ones among them have a matriculation exam in mathematics today. Just as we call the DCO, an army vehicle arrives and the soldiers open the three gates. The passage is quick, despite the fact that the names are checked one by one according to the list.A few farmers go through from Tura to the seamzone. A young man, who wants to pass from the seamzone to his home in Tura, has a permit that is no longer valid. After a lot of telephone conversations that the soldiers carry on for about half an hour, the fellow is allowed to go through. The construction work near the middle gate has progressed. There is now a carousel. The soldiers do not know exactly how the passage will proceed when the work will be completed; but they say that it will be “sterile”. The soldiers and we drive to A’anin’ they by the patrol road and we on the ordinary road. A’anin CP 08.30-10.20 On the side of the seamzone three people are waiting to go back to A’anin and a man with a tractor is waiting for a passenger.On the Palestinian side several dozen people are waiting. The inspection is quite rapid; people with their parcels go through to their lands. They complain about how late the gate is opened and about how early the gate will be locked. They say that all over the world farmers go to work early. A woman who is an Israeli citizen married to a resident of A’anin comes to the CP. She has to wait until her matter is cleared up. After about an hour, the woman is allowed to go through to her family in Umm el Fahm. In the meantime, two more women with blue ID cards arrive. One of them has a small son. All those with permits have gone through; the children who came to the CP without permits were sent away and the two women are still waiting for their affair to be cleared up in the brigade. The DCO, as you know, does not deal with Israelis. The soldier who is on guard gives up his concrete post to the women and they sit down there. They start conversing in Arabic – Hebrew and the women, with the confidence of citizens, tell the soldier that they are Israelis just as he is. Finally, the confirmation arrives by telephone. The officer at the site tells the women that they will not return to A’anin (to their husbands) and we drive them to Umm el Fahm.Rihan CP 10.40-11.20 In the “Israeli” parking lot, a driver complains that he does not get a permit for transporting goods, not even for his use at home. He prefers to do his shopping on the West Bank and not in Barta’a where things are relatively expensive.Only a few pedestrians are going through at this time.We go over to the Palestinian parking lot and Lieutenant M. comes after us. Our being there looks dangerous to him. The last pickup trucks are waiting to go through.One of the drivers waiting there is the father-in-law of the man who was arrested last week. The family has no information about his whereabouts. Only the General Security Service knows.At the vehicle CP, two pickup trucks are being inspected at the same time. We try to suggest that they be inspected while they unload the goods from the pickup trucks coming from the West Bank and load the pickup trucks from Barta’a. M. thinks this is dangerous. He says that the process of inspection will improve when there will be a budget for an x-ray machine.We tell him about the driver who is not allowed to transport goods to his family. M. says that giving that kind of permit is a judgment call of the people at the CP. We try to remind him of the size of Palestinian families.[translation: Devorah K.]