'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 20.6.11, Morning
0610 A'anin Agricultural CP
People tell us that the CP has opened as usual at six; so far about 30 people have gone through and about the same number are waiting. Recently, permits have been distributed, but not generously. Every family received one permit, if at all. According to the people we spoke to, there many farmers with land on the other side of the Fence who did not get any permit to go across. We remind whoever needs a reminder, that distributing permits is not a 'right' but a duty by the occupier's definition of agricultural gates in the Fence: 'that the occupier will not prevent farmers from cultivating their lands.' Then they made a commitment …
The passage is conducted through the middle gate; they are making lists on paper because there is no computer. This always causes mistakes, which cause arguments when people return, as we have seen more than once. Young fellows aged 12-16 are not allowed to go out even if they are accompanied by a parent. This is the same problem that has never been solved in relation to this age group. They are not given identity cards, but they are still considered mature enough to need a permit. A woman accompanied by her young son has to go through by herself because he is not allowed to go with her. Yet, according to tradition, a woman is not allowed to go out alone in public …
0620. About 20 people are still waiting. A group of people denied passage is standing at the side. There is no representative of the DCO.
0630. We hear shouting and arguments. Somebody is yelling provocatively: 'Call the police!". Most of the young boys return to the village; while one refuses to move. He insists on going through. There is no way to find out who the person is even though we know what the argument is about. At one stage, two soldiers grab the fellow, one on his right and one on his left, and drag and push him to the passage of the CP yelling "Be careful!" and so on.
The end of the story: We have bought one more fan for the national team. Now we can close the CP and go out to carry out some tasks of defense, protecting the nation of Israel from those who wish to do it evil.
0650 Tura-Shaked CP
Soldiers are concentrating on the task of opening the CP.
0700The CP has been opened. About 20 people from the West Bank (from 'the Red side') are waiting near the turnstile at the entrance to the inspection pavilion. Then another 20 will arrive, and among them teachers going to East Barta'a, to proctor matriculation exams, and so on. Here, too, they are recording names on paper. The tempo of the passage is reasonable.
A young shepherd is waiting to go through; the young lambs do not know about order and discipline. They break through the CP and stop the passage. After a quarter of an hour he goes through with the herd and order is restored.
Our acquaintance, Y., arrives with a young woman relative and a young boy. She is on her way to the DCO to renew her permit. Y. is nervous because of the 'catch': Her permit is not valid, but in order to renew it she has to go through the CP. How will she go through without a permit? He calls the DCO, upset, talks to the soldiers, presents documents, goes ahead and comes back. The soldiers examine the papers, call whoever they have to call and in the end let her go through. Since all of this is happening in the middle of the CP [which we see only partly], when Y. comes out, we ask about what happened. At first he refuses to talk. We are surprised; usually we are on good terms. And then suddenly his tongue is freed, and this nice man who usually smiles and jokes with us, takes all his anger out on us. We are to blame! It's all because of us! Why do we come here at all if we do not help? He yells at us like a pressure cooker whose valve has blown out: "Go away from here! Don't come here ….. !" We think that if others feel this way, swallow their resentment and restrain themselves until the day when they explode - and that day will come, it must come because how much can people absorb – then neither we nor any fence nor any wall will be able to stand against the frustration and the hate and the pain that have accumulated for decades among these people, some of whom were born to the occupation.
0815 New Barta'a CP (Reihan in the name of the Settlement)
The head of the Barta'a council and his assistants are distributing flyers to people who are going through the CP. Today there are elections to the Palestinian Office of Commerce, and just as is done in our country, they are trying to influence the results until the very last minute.
A young man from East Barta'a and his wife, an Israeli from West Barta'a, live on both sides of the wadi that separates the Israeli Barta'a from the Palestinian Barta'a. She has not moved officially to East Barta'a so as not to lose her civil rights, and he is prevented from moving to live with her. Thus, they live at a walking distance of five minutes from one another. In order to see him, she and two toddlers and another one in her stomach must travel to Jenin via Jalameh, because Israeli Arabs are allowed to go through to the West Bank only there. He is not allowed to take three steps, to cross the border between the two villages and to see his family. The absurdity shouts to the heavens!
Now the woman was caught in her husband's house. Somebody apparently informed on her and somebody from Israel came to her house and found it empty. They inspected the refrigerator, the garbage pail; they took pictures and noted: there is no sign of everyday life in that house. They found her in her husband's house and cancelled her health insurance.
Afterwards they said, why are you shocked? That is the routine. Nothing out of the ordinary. They take pictures, record the facts and pass them on to wherever facts like these get passed on, and they do what they do.
0900 We left.
Our boys had a hard day.