Tarqumiya 14/3/2004 PM Watchers: Susan, Linda G. Haya N. (reporter) We arrived at 15:30 pm, just as a group of about 10 workers passed through the checkpoint quickly on their way home. Between half past four and half past five about seventy more workers arrived, often in groups, and passed through quickly without having their documents checked. What had taken hours last time was now done quickly and efficiently. Perhaps because of Carmela Menashe’s reportage this morning, perhaps because the soldiers had been given different orders, and perhaps because… The workers asked for morning shifts, because otherwise they get held up (by the soldiers) and they arrive late to work or to look for a job. On the way back we saw another transit-van with workers coming towards us on its way to Tarqumiya. An additional roadblock had been set up near the Jerusalem crossroad, near Beit Gubrin. A few kilometers east of Kiryat Gat yet another roadblock had been erected because of the suicide bombing at Ashdod. A transit-van full of workers had been stopped at that roadblock and was parked on the verge. The workers had been made to get out and were lined up by the soldiers alongside the road and the passing traffic. Scenes from the occupied territories: Yesterday less than 100 persons passed through the checkpoint but there were an enormous number of vehicles, especially lorries, crossing in both directions, almost like a frontier post. Most of the lorries crossed in either direction without any hindrance. One lorry, which came from the Israel side and which was carrying short electric cables (which are stripped and the copper reused), was stopped and sent back. The soldiers at the checkpoint refused to let it through. After speaking to the Palestinian merchant who wanted to take the lorry through, we understood that there is a settler (we have his name and his place of residence) who is a “macher”. Only with his bill of lading is it possible for lorries to cross from the PA territories into Israel or back. Since the “macher” was not due to arrive for another four hours, the Palestinians chose to go via a dirt road, thus risking the loss of their labor permits. The bill of lading costs money of course – 100 Shekels per lorry. The “macher” is usually not in situ at Tarqumiya, and they all maintain contact with him by phone (his phone number was apparently given to them by the soldiers).Yesterday, also waiting for the ”macher” was a Palestinian scrap iron merchant from Nazareth; he said he runs a legitimate business and has his own bills of lading, which the soldiers would not accept. He had three double lorries for the port of Ashdod, which were supposed to be shipped out today to Turkey. He had been waiting with them since 10:00 am that morning. We left at half past five pm and he was still there; there seemed little likelihood of any change in his situation.