Rihan, Anin, Monday, April 10, 2006, AMObservers: Anna N. S. and Neta G. (reporting)06.05 – 10.40Rihan, 06.05Men and women workers come out of the terminal on thir way to work in the seam zone. They are all smiling, happy to be able to earn a living. In the pedestrian area of the CP there is no queue. People arriving at the Palestinian parking lot in taxis are called to the terminal entrance in groups of 10. Among the workers, there are male laborers who work in the Shahak industrial area, women who work in the textile plant in Barta’a, and the laborers who live in the seam zone, coming home from a night shift in a plant near Ya’abed. A young boy is selling coffee. Today there is no school because it is the holiday of the Prophet Mohammed – his 1417th birthday.07.20: Four laborers with jobs in the Shahak industrial area, who reached the CP at 5.00 AM, are not allowed to go through. The four, who work in the same plant, have permits that are valid until June, but their names do not appear on the terminal lists. The lists are submitted by the employers to the District Coordination Office, and from there they are passed on to the brigade and to the CP. The CP commander, a second lieutenant, takes the IDs and the permits of these four people and begins to make phone calls. The workers wait in the Palestinian parking lot in the meantime. The commander is aware of the fact that sometimes the lists are not up-to-date, but he says that it also happens that the names of people with permits do not appear on the lists because the employer no longer wants their work.08.05 – The matter is cleared up. The permits are valid and the people are called to the terminal. Their documents await them there. We are waiting to see them go through. 0820 – The four have gone through and are on their way to the upper parking lot, where a car is waiting to take them to the plant. They thank us, and we are embarrassed.We want to note that there was no need for these people to have waited more than three hours for passage, and there was no need for us to intervene, or for the help of the CP commander. When they saw that the names did not appear on the lists, the military policemen who do the inspection could have appealed to the DCO representative, A., who was there, and he could have investigated the validity of the permits. K, a DCO representative, told us several weeks ago that in these cases, he should be called upon; and, furthermore, the permits are the determining factor, and not the lists.At about 08.00 AM, the tenders arrive in the Palestinian parking lot and the inspection process in the vehicle CP begins.Anin, 08.35 According to the people there, the gates have been open since about 08.00 AM. This time, the inspection is carried out between the gate on the side of the seam zone and the gate in the middle; and we can see those who are waiting.Those with agricultural permits are going through today, and because of the holiday, women and children are going through too. They have packets of food and they told us that they are on their way to a picnic. The women and children have a permit valid only this once, for the holiday. Among the workers, there is the mukhtar of the village of Anin with his two daughters, and a woman who showed us the red-headed baby she has finally given birth to after 14 years of marriage. One farmer told us that he has to support 13 people. He has no work, and there is not enough food for all of them. He says that he has come to his vineyard, only to look at it. All the males, including the boys from the age of about five, are required to lift their shirts and turn around. A tractor driver who was allowed to go through with his tractor complained that lifting the shirt in front of women and children is insulting.09.00 – The soldiers tell the people waiting to keep their distance on the Palestinian side; they close the middle gate and get into a vehicle, saying that they will be back in a quarter of an hour. And they actually do return within that time and open the gate again. Children who arrived at the gate without a parent accompanying them were not allowed to go through. Similarly, a farmer with a permit for another CP was not allowed through.09.50 – Passage is at an end. They close the gates, and will reopen them at 15.00. Passage through the Anin CP at this season is allowed on Mondays and Thursdays.Rihan, 10.05 There are only a few pedestrians at this time. In the Palestinian parking lot, seven pickup trucks with heavy loads are waiting. At the vehicle CP a pickup and a private car are being inspected at the same time. There is no “procedure of the dance” (lifting the shirt and turning around).In one car, there is a driver and his pregnant wife. The woman is asked to get out of the car and a woman soldier from the Military Police is called to inspect her. The soldier inspects her at the side with the help of a manual magnometer, in relative modesty.The drivers in the Palestinian parking lot at Rihan told us that Ya’abed is closed off by a gate from 09.00 in the evening until morning. They also said that there is a CP on the road that leads out of Jenin, so traveling from Jenin to Rihan may take two hours instead of 20 minutes. There is also a mobile CP (jeep) on the road from Ya’abed to the Rihan CP, on the bridge.At 10.40 we leave. The loaded tenders are still waiting.