Jalama, Wednesday, November 10, 2004, A.M. Observers: Masha S., Netta G. (reporting) 06:50 – 08:3006:50 – The Jalama checkpoint is extremely quiet. About 20 workers are waiting for transportation for olive picking at the Ta’ancheem area in Israel. Workers come out of the inspection “sleeve” one by one, tying their belts and turning to the vehicles that have arrived in the meantime. The drivers complain that none of the female workers have come out of the inspection area. 07:15 – The female workers start coming out of the sleeve one after the other. 07:30 – All workers are out of the inspection post, on their way to work. We requested permission to go to checkpoint 250, and we even told the CP commander that we would not stand close to the soldiers’ post. He turned to his superior, who turned to the brigade headquarters, but the answer was no. We returned to the vacant parking lot. A nice woman sergeant from the military police came out of the sleeve and made herself available to speak with us. She is the commander of inspection, who recently completed a special course that qualified her for that unique job. She described the various stations of inspection, starting at the waiting shed and up to the exit from the sleeve. According to her, the process is swift and efficient. She also said that they opened the passage at 05:00 and that the infrastructure workers had gone through at an earlier time. There is no special line for women, but rather each person is being inspected in his/her turn. 07:50 – Only a few come out of the sleeve: a merchant from Jenin who distributes stone from Qabatiya in Israel; a person who had an appointment for a neurological exam in Nazareth. One of the workers who crossed over in the morning now wants to return. It turns out that he came specially to pick up his salary for olive picking in Ilaboun. His employer didn’t show up, because he said his car broke down. The employer promised to pay in two weeks time, so the worker had to go back home with no money for the upcoming holiday. I regret to say that we didn’t ask for his telephone number, to follow up on that. I have the feeling that there is a phenomenon of delaying payments to the olive pickers, as other reports mention similar situations. 08:00 – a soldier arrived at the back-to back building. There are two tankers and three empty trucks. The first tanker enters the site at 08:15. 08:20 – A family from Nazareth arrive in two cars, one a commercial vehicle and the other a family car. They are waiting for the husband’s father, a resident of Jenin who is ill and not ambulatory. They came in two vehicles because they were unsure whether he would be more comfortable lying down or sitting up on his way to the hospital in Nazareth. The father arrives in a Palestinian minibus. He is allowed to go as far as the checkpoint on the road. On the other side of that road is the van waiting for him. The family is most thankful to the soldiers for allowing a swift transfer.