Jalama, Shaked, Rihan, Wednesday, November 16, 2005, AMObservers: Anna N., Yocheved G., Netta G. (reporting)Jalama, 06:00-06:15The checkpoint is deserted. The soldiers wait in the “sleeve” next to the checking station, for Palestinians who are not coming. The roofed over waiting area on the Palestinian side is empty.The soldiers say that there is an easing of the closure. Merchants, humanitarian cases, cases of family reunification and the holders of permits to visit the law courts, are permitted to pass.The only valid passes are from October 27 onward. Agricultural laborers and other workers are not permitted. That’s why we see none of the 8,000 workers mentioned in the media.A man is waiting in the parking lot on the Israeli side for a sick relative who has been permitted to go to a hospital in Nazareth.The vehicle crossing is closed and unmanned. It’s opened only for military vehicles or in humanitarian cases.Shaked, 06:55-08:30On our way to the gate, we are stopped by the sentry at an improvised military base; he allows us to pass with the warning that there are Palestinians by the gate!Early-rising schoolchildren are beginning to arrive. At 07:00, in place of the jeep with soldiers who open the gate, a white jeep from the District Coordination Office turns up with soldiers who don’t open the gate. Between the two gates, there are a couple of children and a man, who live in the lone house that the fence cut off from the village of Nazlet Zied, leaving them on the Israeli side. Schoolchildren continue to arrive. The gate continues closed.07:25 – The DCO representative bothers to inform the waiting Palestinians that there is a delay, and that the gate will open within a quarter of an hour. The white jeep leaves. By now, there are some 60 children and adults waiting.07:35 – An army vehicle passes without stopping. We phone the DCO and brigade.07:50 – A military vehicle arrives with soldiers who open the gates, and try to stop the rush of the children. The youngest are called in fives, and allowed to pass without any check. The older ones are summoned in pairs, and their IDs are checked. The schoolchildren and adults have all passed, except for one youth who arrived accompanied by his father. It turns out that the youngster was caught yesterday playing around with the fence and, as punishment, his ID was taken. The father is sent to get the ID from the nearby military base. Meanwhile, the soldiers explain to us that the youth was detected by the deterrent aids installed on the fence, and could have been shot.The delay in opening the gate, according to the soldiers, is because they were delayed at the agricultural gate at Barta’a as a result of problems there.08:30 – The father returns with the ID, the youth passes through, and we leave.Rihan, 08:40-10:10Little traffic at the pedestrian checkpoint. Closure continues. According to the soldiers, the workers from the sewing shop crossed at Barta’a, but the employees of the Shahak industrial area are not allowed through, and they don’t come to the checkpoint.A man with an agricultural pass for Barta’a asks to cross here, but they don’t let him. They do bother to tell him that Barta’a will reopen at 15:30.There is no transit for holders of Israeli IDs other than settlers.There are five detainees in the compound.At the vehicle checkpoint, few cars are waiting. The lift-shirts-roll-up- trousers routine continues. It is permitted to take through five boxes or five cans of oil. In the parking lot stands a tender with 30 cans of oil. The oil is from harvest in the seam line that was taken to an oil press in the West Bank. Now the cans have to be returned to their owners. The driver contends that the transfer of the oil was coordinated with the DCO, but apparently it wasn’t done properly. The man, a resident of Barta’a, should have contacted his head of council yesterday. A fax would then have been sent to the DCO and the transfer would have been allowed.A number of military vehicles are standing at the checkpoint, waiting for an exercise. The Menashe Brigade commander, Col. Hertzi Halevi, passes in a vehicle and stops by me. He’s ready to listen, but not to respond to any request. He says that if they allow one person with a Barta’a pass to go through Rihan, then tomorrow there will be scores. He says that there is no transit for Israelis at Rihan by order of the General Command of the West Bank. Whoever has gone through should return the same way he came. The brigade commander is not aware that Shaked Gate did not open at the appointed time for the schoolchildren. He says they will try to be punctual, but there is no possibility of assigning an extra team – so the opening of Shaked will be dependent on events at Barta’a.09:30 – the checkpoint is closed for an exercise.On the Israeli side of the checkpoint, there are people waiting in the “sleeve,” including a mother with two cute girls in pink. A number of impatient men are waiting on the Palestinian side. Of course no one tells them why and for how long the checkpoint is closed. Cars are waiting in the parking lot on the Palestinian side for passengers who are not coming.Five detainees, whom we saw before, have been released and, in their place, six more are sitting in the compound. Because of the exercise, their papers are not being checked right now.On the Palestinian side of the vehicle checkpoint, eight cars are waiting. Their drivers are losing patience and they do a U-turn and leave.At 10 a.m., 20 cars are waiting in the vehicle line on the Israeli side. A worried father gets out of one of them and explains that he has to bring his daughter to Tul Karem hospital for an operation. The checkpoint commander, Second Lieutenant A., lets the family pass. A taxi driver says that he also has an ill passenger, an elderly man who has to get to a hospital in Jenin. A. is willing to let the taxi take the man to hospital, on condition that the other passengers get out of the taxi. The driver is not prepared to compromise, so he waits by the checkpoint.We left while the exercise was still running. Second Lieutenant A., a well mannered, pleasant young man, couldn’t tell us when the exercise would finish and the checkpoint reopen.