'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Sun 1.11.09, Afternoon
15:30 Checkpoint A'anin
The gate is closed. Is the olive harvest completed? A few military Hummers pass, but there is no one to talk to.
15:45 Checkpoint Shaked
A unit of soldiers comes from the direction of the checkpoint (apparently as part of an exercise) and at the checkpoint itself the situation is "normal". A police patrol car stands on the main road at the entrance to Riehan settlement. Why? Are they giving traffic tickets?
16:00 Checkpoint Riehan
A car full of produce waits at the upper gate; when we get out of our car it is already gone.
The workers returning to the West Bank assemble at the turnstyle. A young man waits outside the gate, claiming that he was already turned back twice and told to wait in front of the gate since he didn't have a re-entry permit to the West Bank. We advised him to try to enter a third time since even without such a permit he cannot stay in Israel! He enters and waits.
The returning workers tell us that this morning it was again very crowded at the Irtah checkpoint near Teibe, with a lot of pushing and some injuries. Do our colleagues there know of this?
By now 8 people are delayed inside the terminal, their documents being checked.
We left at 17:00.