'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Tue 15.11.11, Afternoon
Translation: Bracha B.A.
A'anin Checkpoint
The checkpoint is now open until 17:00. The olive harvest is still going on and people arrive gradually. The woman soldier reports that people have gone to work this morning despite the rainy weather. A soldier refuses to let people bring across bags of used clothing, despite our attempts to convince him. He will change his mind only if the Liaison and Coordination Administration permits it. Again, we are witness to a soldier with an inflated ego and a weapon, backed by the army, who does not permit us to set foot in "his checkpoint" because it is a "military zone" (which is an insignificant factthat soldiers tend to use as a mantra in order to throw us from there). At 15:30 everyone but 20 people had crossed. We left and saw women and children harvesting olives on our way to the next checkpoint.
15:40 – Shaked Tura Checkpoint
Until 16:00 almost no one was crossing. Several private cars undergo a short check on their way to the West Bank. Two women and two little girls pass through to the inspection booth and a woman soldier smiles at them. They remained in the booth for about 10 minutes and then left. An army jeep drives back and forth several times patrolling along the fence. Most of the workers, about 25 men, arrive around 16:00. This is a good time to get to the checkpoint to observe.
16:15 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
On our way we saw several carcasses of dead wild piglets and jackals sniffing around them. It was a sad sight to see. Workers arrive after their day's work in the area or in Israel. There are two windows operating inside the terminal and everyone who arrives goes in immediately and comes out within a short time. At 16:30 more people begin to arrive and unlike the situation two weeks ago, a line begins to form. There are no cars or trucks going to the West Bank or the seamline zone, evidently because of the bad weather. We left at 16:50.
Comment: During a lecture about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the lecturer was asked to call thearea of conflict by its name. Israel or Palestine? The lecturer claimed that naming the conquered territories according to the wishes of the conqueror was a demonstration of power and constituted a declaration of ownership as well as an attempt to ignore its historical identity. Some people call the same piece of land Israel and others call it Palestine, and neither is willing to recognize the name given by the other. The same is true regarding the names of the checkpoints. I believe that in calling the name of the checkpoint by its original name, we are expressing passive objection to the military conquest of the conquered territories