Jalama, Reihan, Thu 15.7.10, Afternoon
North, 15.7.10, pmTranslating by Yael S.
15:15 Jalama checkpoint -
We brought back a mother and daughter from treatment at Ram"bam hospital. A long line of Israeli cars returning. Passage was extremely slow.An armed security person saw the tag we wear "MachsomWatch" and greeted us for that.
16:15 - Rihan-Barta'a checkpoint
About 15 workers loaded with watermelons and flowers went through swiftly. 3 were detained and were allowed to cross over 20 minutes later. One of them turned to us and said "When you are here - all is well".
At 16:40 there was a change of shifts and passage was renewed within two minutes. Towards 17:00 more people arrived at the gated and passage was in a reasonable pace. One worker told us that we'd better come to Sha'ar Ephraim on a Friday. He had heard that because the checkpoint manager does not work on Fridays, passage is intolerable , people are delayed for a long time.
On the way out a minibus driver turned to us and reported that almost every morning, it takes him up to two hours to cross the checkpoint with his vehicle.We've promised to check it out.