MEITAR-SANSANA CROSSING, July 8, 2007 Observers: Shlomit T. & Patti G.5:10-6:00 a.m. We arrived at the crossing at 5:10. Hundred of workers are waiting in line to enter the terminal to be checked. Ten at a time are allowed entry. Some of the men arrived at 4 a.m. and managed to get through. They are waiting at the parking lot on the Israel side (some are lying on the pavement) in some cases waiting for transportation and some waiting for other workers in their group who were shunted to the end of the line. (It is unclear why – whether they pushed each other, or because the soldiers ordered them to the end of the line.)The workers have to get to Karni and to other places which will take 1 -1 ½ hours to reach. They are worried they will lose their jobs if they continue to come late. According to the workers, since the implementation of the new technology (devices which electronically read the palm of the hand – like at the airport) the process of crossing is much slower. There are only two stations, although there is room for four. “The soldier is drinking coffee and forgets about the next one in line.”We measured how long it took one man to get through the checking inside terminal – 25 minutes from one side to the other (this does not include the long waiting to get in). This seems too long time for a process which is meant to check workers on a daily basis.The entire terminal area is considered a “closed military area” and observers are not allowed to watch the procedures. From brief exchanges with the soldiers (border police) who insisted they could not answer any questions, it appears that some of them hold extremely racist views. According to one of the workers, last Tuesday (July 3) the soldiers suddenly stopped working for some reason shut down the passage altogether in the afternoon for two hours. It seems unfair that workers, who are spending their lives building our country, should have to endure this treatment. []Adjacent to the terminal there is a small army camp, which we entered by mistake. There should be a sign saying “no entry”.