Jalama, Shaked, Rihan, Baka, Nazlat Issa, Wednesday, June 7, 2006, AMObservers: Netta G, Anna NS (reporting) Jalama, 06:00 – 06:50We are told that recently, a relatively large number of new work permits were issued, and we wanted to confirm this. The checkpoint is open, men and women are passing through on their way to work in agriculture, commerce and construction in the neighboring communities – Beit Shean and even Nazareth. For the most part, the employers are waiting for them in the parking lot.Soldiers claim that they usually open at 06:00, but the workers say that the opening hour is not consistent.According to the soldiers, 270 men and women go through and return every day.Two buses arrived with families going to visit convicts in Israel. We’re told that buses like this go through almost every day.Jalama checkpoint closes at 19:00. Those who have permits for later stays suffer from this early closing. On the days when there are prison visits, the checkpoint stays open until 21:00, and then the other lucky ones can pass too. On other days, the soldiers are alerted, and this entails prolonged and weary waiting at the end of the day’s work.On Fridays the checkpoint is open till 14:00, and on Saturday – the well known day of rest – it is closed! While we were here some 60 people crossed.Israelis don’t pass through this checkpoint apart from workers at the Israeli sewing plant in nearby Mokeibila, and a few others.At the back-to-back checkpoint, up to 06:30 we saw about 10 trucks. The installation is now operated by a civilian contractor that also operates at Irtah. Soldiers (reservist guards) claim that yesterday there was terrible chaos – a line of 20 trucks waited till 13:30 in oppressive heat, and matters almost degenerated into violence. The closing hour of the back-to-back is not regular, and is dependent upon completion of the offloading and transfer of goods. Shaked, 07:45Silent idleness. Empty. Bored soldiers claiming that only a few people pass through: school kids for matriculation exams and local residents. They warn us that it’s dangerous to wander around without flak jackets. We often hear this, and what does it say about the atmosphere of tension in the interface between the soldiers and the Palestinians who cross their paths? Rihan, 08:10-09:40 The taxi drivers at the top of the sleeve say that today the checkpoint opened on time, around 05:00, and all the permit holders passed – the workers at Shahak industrial area and the seamstresses.Thirty people are waiting, among them teachers on their way to Barta’a for an exam day: today it’s Arabic. There are also families waiting with small children.During our stay at the checkpoint some 50 people crossed. Most of the vehicles with goods had crossed by this hour. Two more came later – one with trays of eggs and the other with vegetables. A young man who works as a porter when necessary was summoned to help offload and load the eggs. That’s also earning a living.Our acquaintances, the brothers Said and Walid, greeted us happily. Said, aged 7, sells Coca Cola, while his older brother Walid sells coffee and sweet mint tea.The residents tell us that between Jenin and Yabed there is a checkpoint at Arabe, a rolling checkpoint at Yabed dividing Yabed and a small village called Umm Riha. Beginning at 21:00 Yabed is under siege and closed till morning. Another rolling checkpoint is located under the bridge, where the soldiers check ownership documents of the vehicles, and if there are none, the vehicle must be left on the spot and the driver/occupants must approach the checkpoint on foot.People coming from the direction of Kapin are required to travel to Yabed and from there to the checkpoint by roundabout routes that lengthen the travel time. Umm Riha is three kilometers from Yabed and some 180 children are compelled to walk to school in Yabed: there are no educational institutions in their village. Its three thousand residents have been living for years without water or electricity. There is a ruined well in the village, the residents fill water in jerrycans wherever possible and buy water that comes from Kapin in the grocery shop.This is “Area C,” under Israeli control, but the welfare of the residents and the supplying of their most basic needs are not of any interest to the well-fed and indifferent occupier.Four Palestinian workers in a UN car, without the required documents, are detained for an hour. They are allowed to continue after a prolonged and wearisome phone clarification, and were asked in future to organize their papers with the District Coordination Office.Two soldiers are striding toward the Palestinian parking lot, followed by us. We fear that they will again beat up on someone. Who knows?They ask drivers who are not Barta’a residents to leave the lot. Their contention is that only residents of the seam zone have the right to park here. Even here they expel drivers?One of the people explains to the soldiers that they are waiting for passengers. Previously they had waited on the hill, and were required to evacuate themselves to this parking lot. And now comes this demand that conflicts with the previous one. The soldiers say they will check, and they depart.At the vehicle checkpoint, two cars arrive together at the checking station, one Israeli, the other Palestinian. The Israeli flashes past without stopping even to wink, while the Palestinian is stopped, the driver gets out, his ID is checked as is the content of the vehicle. There is nothing new about this, but the picture catches in one instant the humiliation and oppression of the situation. Baka al-Sharkia, Nazlat Issa, 10:15-10:40 We pass by the horrendous wall facing the windows of the residents’ houses, to the checkpoint. Facing us a field of thistles is on fire, whipped by the hamsin wind that carries sparks and burning wood shavings.We came because we were told that an x-ray machine is already operating on the spot. The machine has been placed at the opening of the sleeve and turnstile, but it isn’t yet working. The soldiers give no information (“everything classified”), speak a lot about the “humanity” of allowing the possibility of passage between Baka and Nazla. The small village of Nazla is split into two unequal parts by the wall. The x-ray machine will open up when they have examined “all the possible dangers” to the health of the passers-by.We really felt the ease and openness exuded by this human checkpoint and almost wept with gratitude… We did not see anyone coming or going at this hour, and we were unable to find out how many people do use the route or who is allowed to pass…. As we said: a military secret!