Mevo Dotan (Imriha), Reihan, Shaked, Tue 8.6.10, Morning

Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

Summary: There were no exceptional events.  We heard complaints about failure to issue agricultural permits.

Reihan Checkpoint, 08:00

As we drove across the checkpoint we saw the seamstresses going to work.  Workers are already waiting for rides to work.  The lower parking lot is not full and two tenders with agricultural produce are waiting to be checked.  There is no line of people waiting at the entrance to the terminal on the West Bank side.  We continued to the unmanned Dotan checkpoint.  The tobacco fields are in full flower and there is a view of the pastoral landscape.. When we returned to Reihan the two tenders were still waiting to be checked and more arrived, but we could not see if any were being checked inside the facility.  The vehicle inspection is supposed to begin at 06:00.

Shaked Checkpoint, 06:55
The checkpoint is closed.  A car is waiting to be checked on the West Bank side.  We can already see people and vehicles waiting in back of the closed gates. The soldiers are marching with all their equipment on the road to the checkpoint.  The opening of the checkpoint takes until 07:15, and after that crossing is very slow.   
Later the commander of the checkpoint explained that there had been activity in Tura during the night and that they had announced to people that the checkpoint would open late.  It was not clear to whom they had made the announcement.  Evidently there was no violent activity, only arrests.  The younger schoolchildren are already on summer vacation and the students and older children are having examinations. They are studying their notebooks as they walk.  

J., the driver who drives the small children says that he is detained every morning and says that he has been blacklisted, but he has not been invited to any hearing.  He is simply being harassed. 

We left at 08:15 after most of the people as well as herds of goats had gone through.