Reihan, Shaked, Mon 20.7.09, Morning
Leah R, Anna NS
Today is the beginning of the festival of el Ashura, and we are told that all official institutions in Palestine will be closed for a couple of days.
The checkpoint is open. There are relatively many soldiers compared to the number of transients: 15-20 men, among them tractor owners. One man relates that his 14 year old son was not allowed cross the checkpoint with him, even though he had a birth certificate and was included in the father’s identity card. While talking on the phone with DCO chief Aadel and the father, 10 more boys were sent home, all between 12-16.
The checkpoint opened at 05:00. On the way we meet workers who have already passed the checking station and are waiting for transport to work. A few drivers are waiting since official (yellow) taxis have taken the place of private vehicles in long journeys.
Checks of merchandise begin around 05:00, five pickups at a time. At the moment two are waiting. They tell us that in recent days Amriha Checkpoint has been opened late, delaying all the workers who have to reach Reihan in order to go to work in time.
Most traffic is flowing at this hour, mostly to the Seam Zone, but even that is thin. Private cars convert themselves to taxis and take people to Seam Zone communities. A courteous soldier, apparently in charge, comes over to us for a short conversation. He tells us that around 50 men and women crossed this morning to the Seam Zone, and that treatment of transients will shortly pass to the Military Police while the checkpoint soldiers will guard them.
Local residents tell us (again) that there are Palestinian communities in the Seam Zone that still are not connected to electricity, alongside settlements in the area. At Dahar el-Malch the owners of one house wait for 10:00, when they can turn the generator on and continue building the wall around their courtyard. They tell us about refrigerators that don’t work and food that spoils, and other burdens. They are afraid to take initiative for fear of harm to the little already achieved, and have hired a lawyer to fight their cases, not always successfully.