'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 27.4.09, Morning

Translation: Devorah K.

About 15 people want to go through the CP from the side of the Palestinian village A'anin to the seamline zone. They have hoes and shovels. A man with a work permit is not allowed through. His friend says that he is employed as a laborer on the farm of his neighbor and still he was not allowed to go through.

The passage is relatively quick. There are no delays in the terminal. On the road that passes through the CP and goes down to the West Bank, there is a sign: "FOR (OWNERS OF) ISRAELI LICENCE PLATES", as if it is not clear that there is this damned classification. About seven loaded pickup trucks and a few taxis are waiting for inspection. Only a few drivers are waiting.

The first people to go from the West Bank to the seamline zone complain about a rude soldier in the CP who creates a bad atmosphere. They say that he curses, yells, insults and humiliates people. We do not know who they are talking about.

A detainee of about 14, on his way to school in Ya'abed (a big village in the area, the West Bank), is sitting on the stone step near the security guard. The boy's uncle, the teacher S., bursts out in the direction of the soldiers. He has come back and asks why the boy is being detained and why they do not free him to go to school. The soldier shouts at him trying to make him go away. The man refuses to move and demands an explanation. There is an interchange of yelling that leads apparently to some pushing. From where we are standing, we hear curses in Hebrew. The soldier demands that the teacher sit down on the ground. The teacher refuses: "Shoot me, I will not sit down!" The place is filled with rude expressions: "Shut up!" "Quiet!" "Shut up, you bum!" "Maniac!" This is a show for an audience of those going through and those waiting in the CP. Now the uncle and the boy are detained until a police car arrives. Those coming out of the CP tell us that the soldier who inspected the boy's schoolbag threw everything in it on the ground. The boy, who does not understand Hebrew, wanted to go to school quickly because it was late and apparently did not understand that the soldier called him. A reminder: Now the two detainees are surrounded by eleven armed soldiers and the passage is going on very slowly.

The Mukhtar (head) of the nearby village, Daher-el-Malek, arrives and tries to calm things down, but even he could not convince the soldiers to free the boy.

08:00 - People express their opinions about the State [of Israel] and of the army to us; each person in his own way tells about the humiliation that they have to bear every morning when they go out and every evening when they return.

09:00 The police car arrives. We hope that the affair will now end. But no! The police car leaves after three quarters of an hour and we learn that immediately another car will arrive to arrest the teacher.

09:40 On the way to the Reihan CP we get the telephone number of the teacher S. At the CP itself, after a short wait, we handed over the bags of clothing. We bought some olive oil and left. At the vehicle CP we declared that we have oil in the car and we were detained for inspection.

Epilogue: At this time, the teacher S. is under arrest, awaiting trial at the Regional Brigade in Hawara. This is happening to him because he has demanded consideration for his nephew and refused to obey the humiliating instructions of the soldiers at the CP.