Reihan, Shaked, Sat 4.6.11, Morning
0730 - 0800 Tura-Shaked
Busy traffic from the Seam Line zone to the West Bank, and much less on the opposite side. Passage is quiet, swift and without delays.
We notice something new (at least for us, the drivers are already familiar with it). They park their vehicles in front of the gate, walk to the inspection cabin and following their inspection they return to the vehicles and drive over to the vehicles' inspection facility.
Up until now they used to drive straight to the vehicles' inspection area and from there they would walk to the inspection cabin.
A few people turn to us for assistance regarding the renewal of passage permits which were denied, even to those who have been using such permits for a long time.
We provided them with relevant telephone numbers.
0810-0900 Barta'a-Reihan.
A few people go up the sleeve
from the terminal and they report that it is very crowded inside, there are hundreds of people, and the wait is about an hour. We've reached the entrance of the terminal, and after seeing it with our own eyes we called Sharon (the operation manager). Ten minutes later people began coming out in groups of ten and at a faster pace. Yet those coming out reported a large crowd inside.
Even the few who wished to cross over from the Seam Line zone into the West Bank waited relatively longer than usual.
The problem appeared to be at the inspection inside rather than at the windows. Half an hour later, when the heavy crowding continued, we call Sharon again. he claimed that there were no unusual problems and that this was the usual situation.
Another person on his way out of inspection told us the following:-
"There is the same number of inspectors as the number of people wishing to cross over. What takes them so long?! They do not work. Two Palestinians would have done this works much faster".