Jalama, Shaked, Rihan, Wednesday, March 30, 2005, AMObservers: Sandra R., Sarit R., Lea R. (reporting)6:00 – Jalama checkpoint (Sandra and Lea)Israeli cab drivers complained that the workers started going through the gate at 6:00, instead of 5:00. Said that this happens quite often. The female soldier said that she did open the post at 6:00this morning, due to some problem. We wanted to go to the Palestinian side. The soldier made some inquiry and told us that we couldn’t because we have no permit for that. (This is untrue, but we didn’t argue).6:20 – Jalama (Sarit)An Israeli Arab, a contractor for agriculture work, who had been waiting for his workers, complained that some Palestinians take advantage of the difficult situation for their own benefit. For example, two Palestinian cab drivers, who, due to the lifting of some of the inner checkpoints, have a shorter routeto drive, which decreases their income. According to the Israeli contractor, some of these drivers created provocations that brought back some of the inner checkpoints. The Israeli voiced his hope that this would be solved with a peace treaty.At the post, the traffic of workers streams along, among them many women on their way to agriculture work in Israel. A well dressed 76-year-old man from Tubas arrived at the CP from Nazareth. He left his papers in the taxi and couldn’t get hold of the driver. The soldiers were considerate and inquired with the District Coordination Office (DCO) about this gentleman. I don’t know the end of this story, since I went to Rihan to join my colleagues.The soldiers on site were sensitive and caring.7:10 – Shaked gateThe gate was open. School children went through and a few more arrived as we were standing there. The soldiers on site allowed a Palestinian to transfer a few boxes of vegetables into the seam line zone.The gate closed at 7:30. The soldiers were courteous.7:40 – 9:30 Rihan checkpointVery few pedestrians and vehicles. We talked with a man from Jenin, who was waiting for an attorney from Um al-Fahem. He was injured three years ago while working in Tivon and the lawyer is handling the compensation suit for him, so far without positive results. Following the accident, the man was treated at the Lynn clinic in Haifa. It appears that his arm is not healed and he needs another treatment by a specialist. We took his name and gave it to Physicians for Human Rights. They promised to call him.As we stood by the gate on the Palestinian side, we were approached by a military police soldier who asked us to return to the Israeli side, claiming that this place was dangerous and that we had no insurance. The soldiers said that today was a high alert day due to Land Day (the 29th anniversary of the day several Israeli Arabs were killed when they demonstrated against land expropriations. When we went back to the car park area, the soldiers were strict about us going through the “sleeve.”