'Anin, Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 18.8.11, Morning
According to the rules, a Palestinian girl is not allowed to sleep at her grandmother's house, but the Reihan settlement wants 'social justice'.
6:10 A'anin CP
Only now, ten minutes late, are they opening the CP gates. Apparently they were simply waiting for us. About thirty people, a few tractors and a donkey arrive all together at the middle gate and are waiting to go through. Almost all those going through are men. Two young men are not allowed to go through. A few boys are waiting on the other side of the fence; they know that they will not be allowed to go through.
6:50. A family asks to go through. The mother shows the daughter's birth certificate; a girl aged 12. The girl is not allowed to go through. She is sent back with her brother. The girl does not want to leave her mother who has gone through the CP, and her brother holds her arm and pulls her in the direction of the village. We do not understand why the girl is not allowed to go through. At the DCO, they say that nothing is said in the mother's permit about her being 'accompanied by 12 year olds'. The woman soldier at the CP has another argument: She has discovered the plot! She found that the mother has a bag of clothes (belonging to the girl?), a sign that the child intends to sleep at her grandmother's house 'in Israel! And she will or will not come back. I'm well acquainted with the mess' (the grandmother apparently lives nearby in Umm-el-Reihan, and not in Tel Aviv, God forbid). What is the sin, we wonder and the soldier answers that she also likes to sleep at her grandmother's house, but this (pointing at them) is against the rules (rules that apply to the girl and not to the woman soldier).
On our way to the Shaked-Tura CP, we met a farmer from A'anin on his plot of land. He points to the trees whose low branches have been licked and chewed by cows; the same cows of the resident of the Israeli Ein Sahala, that are doing damage to his land. (In the picture we can see the cows walking around in the olive groves, and none interfering with them.) He tells us that once he sowed onions in the shade of the trees, and put a fence around the plants. But that did not help. He says that the cows come by themselves without a herder and return to Ein Sahala in the evening. It has not helped to complain to the DCO and to the police. We saw the independent cows walking around in the area.
07:25 Shaked-Tura CP
Here, too, we are told that the CP was opened late. A herd of goats that we are acquainted with goes through to the seamline zone. A few people go through too. Only one woman goes through to the West Bank. The commander of the DCO, Kamil, arrives in a civilian vehicle. We ask to speak to him and we call him, but after looking in our direction he disappears. Three military jeeps arrive. In one of them, we see Menashe, the vice commander of the brigade; he stops and talks to us. We tell him about the girl from A'anin. He says that he will find out about it. He gives us a name and a telephone number because he is leaving in a week.
07:55 Reihan-Barta;a, Palestinian parking lot
(In the picture: a Shesh-Besh cube in the CP par, Occupation art)
The parking lot is not full. Perhaps because the Palestinian Authority has reinstated winter time, the tradesmen and workers of East Barta'a have not yet arrived. They are careful to let the few pedestrians go through in fives. A woman and her four children comes in together with five workers. The woman security guard in the hut immediately starts yelling: 'In fives, in fives! What has happened to you? You know this'.' They turned back and after a second, they entered again. Order must be preserved.
A driver complains about the difficulties of making a livelihood. The only alternative to work in transportation is in agriculture. An agricultural worker on the West Bank earns fifty shekels per day. He speaks a fluent Hebrew since for a long time he worked in Israel; he also learned the language from the book: 1000 WORDS. It turns out that he worked for years, for a family in Pardes Hannah, friends of Shula's. And he knows a surprising number of details about the history of this family.
At the entrance to Reihan Settlement there are surprising and ridiculous signs: 'social justice', 'we want change', 'more money for education'. It seems that the Reihan settlers do not realize the injustice of their being there. Above the protest signs, there is a permanent sign inviting people to 'be guests of the Reihan Woods cheese' and behind them a sign announcing that 'a believer is not afraid'.
09:05 Jalameh CP
Many cars are parked at the opening of the terminal, something that is unusual. Among the vehicles in the vehicle CP, there are none that belong to Arab citizens of Israel. The passengers going to the Rambam Hospital are already waiting. No other people are going through at this time.