Jalame, Shaked, Rihan, Sunday, 18/06/06, MorningObservers: Hannah H., Sandra R., Leah R. (reporting)06:15 Jalame CPToday we met ‘happy’ people. It has been ten days since the closure was lifted. The Israeli employers are loyal to their workers.In the terminal the birds are chirping. The Palestinians are smiling; the soldiers are not allowed to talk to us. An Israeli Arab woman from Sandalla leaves her car in the parking lot and goes to Jalameh on foot. There she manages a sewing shop owned by a relative of hers. She says that they are working for export and also for some Israeli firms. A Palestinian man tells us that he is going to Umm el Fahm and from there to Hadera, where he works in a restaurant. If he has to come back late (at 21.00), he can go back to the West Bank via the Rihan CP.07.30 Shaked CPA worker who has gone through to the seamzone claims that for agricultural work it is important to go through at 06.00. A young man from Dahar el Malk has a terrible toothache, and asks to be let through. He wants to go to a doctor in Jenin and it is closest through the Shaked CP. None of his pleas help – let him go to the Rihan CP and from there by taxi to Jenin. A woman with two little girls, from Nazlat Zaid, a Palestinian village right near the Shaked CP, wants to go to Dahar el Malk, a village in the seamzone that is right near the Shaked CP on the west. There she has a sick father who needs her care. They tell her to go to Rihan, and from there to Dahar el Malk, and then back via Rihan to her own village. Instead of doing the trip in 15 minutes, by means of the most sensible direct route, they force her to go around for a few hours, some dozens of kilometers and in addition to pay dozens of shekels for the taxi. In the end, they did allow her to go through. 08.30 Rihan CPOn the side of the seamzone, in a pick up truck, women go through a security check inside the vehicle. (It was explained to us that when the permit of one of the passengers is not valid, all the passengers have to get out of the vehicle and all of them have to go through a security inspection. In other cases, the inspection of those asking to go to the West Bank is done in the car.)Near the CP, in a vehicle on the “Israeli” side, there is a young man who is diabetic and fasting, because he is supposed to have some medical tests. The man is waiting for a permit to go through. We see him on almost all our shifts. Is he suspected of being a terrorist? At 09.45 the man was still waiting.,p>The parking lot on the Palestinian side is full of pickup trucks loaded with goods. The inspection is very slow. We asked the soldiers to let two pickup trucks go through at the same time for the time being. Thus one can be inspected while the second is unloading the goods from his truck. The arrangement lasted for only two cars. The commander says that he does not have enough soldiers. Six were standing there.Two young fellows are not allowed to go through even though they have valid permits. They are builders in the Rihan “settlement.” Their names do not appear on the contractor’s list, despite the fact that during the last few days, they did go through. We asked to speak to the CP commander; he sent us to talk to the terminal commander. After we waited at least half an hour, an officer arrived and inspected the two fellows again and promised to find out about their case and to give them an answer within 10 minutes. After about another half hour, he opened the door and said, “just a minute.” We waited for an hour. Another commander came on the scene. We explained that we are waiting for an answer from the officer. The new person said that the officer went away a long time ago and within two minutes, he would send us somebody from the DCO. We would be able to clear things up with him. He did not come.Next day, we talked to the fellows on the phone. They did not get through on Sunday nor did they get through on Monday, even though the contractor came to the CP.On the Palestinian side about 20 people waiting to go through the terminal are standing in the sun; it is very hot. Nobody goes through. 10.15 – 10.45: The terminal is closed down. Why? Nobody knows. We asked to let the people go to a shady place to wait. There is a roofed passageway at the side of the terminal especially for that purpose. A soldier said that he was given a different order, and he had to carry that out. He did not let the people go to another place, but promised that in two minutes he would arrange the matter, and disappeared.When the terminal was open, each pedestrian went through in 8 to 12 minutes.A pick up truck went through in half an hour.Sheep in a pick up truck – went through without waiting on line.[translation: Devorah K.]