Rihan, Tuesday, June 28, 2005, PMObserving and reporting: Mara and Shula13:50 – 15:00Pedestrian passage – We went through the soldier’s post as though invisibles. Our smiles and greetings remained hanging in the air, over the heads of two female soldiers.The line by the gate is now protected by high concrete walls. This is designed neither to hurt the walkers’ feelings nor to insult them, it is a matter of education: The people there tend to push themselves as one block toward the metal detector and they need to be tamed, to stand in line one behind the other. “Like a cow’s lane,” says Rassam, the head of the municipality of Barta’a.Three illegals were brought into the detention facility and were released after a few minutes.One of those passing through the inspection post is called to the soldier who stands at the post protecting the site. The soldier asks him to hold his ID card open next to his face and he takes a photo of the man without explaining the reason behind it, and of course without asking permission.Why didn’t you ask what was it for? We ask. Why didn’t you say you don’t want your picture taken?“Afraid.”Vehicle passage– If there are 22 vehicles in line and each inspection takes about 6 minutes and the soldiers inspect one car at a time, how long does it take for each car before it reaches the checkpoint and can go through?On our way back, we both walked through the metal detector and we were asked to present our ID cards. The angry female soldier reprimanded us for not waiting for her to call us, and for walking together instead of one by one, and for not closing the gate behind us and, the icing on the cake – she was angry with us because one of our ID cards came apart.