'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 12.11.07, Morning

06:00 - 09:30

06:00 Aanin Checkpoint

The first men are striding down the road, telling us that a hundred are waiting.

Two soldiers are checking people by the gate on the Seam Zone side. Listing of passers through is being done on the concrete block. The soldiers are working quietly.

Almost everyone is carrying a container of oil. Two tractors and four donkeys, one a cute newborn, also cross.

People complain about not getting permits or responses to applications.

07:15 – they say that another twenty people are waiting. We leave.

07:25 Shaked (Tura) Checkpoint

The small army camp to the right of the road is empty. The garbage skiff and surroundings are full of garbage.

Light traffic in both directions. A bulldozer comes from Yabed to carry out works at Dar el Malch in the Seam Zone.

Five older schoolchildren arrive and pass through the inspection hut.

A happy man tells Anna that finally his family members have received agricultural permits.

07:50 – a group of schoolchildren from Tura arrive on the run. No studies. There’s a strike. The children return home joyously. Even the checkpoint can’t spoil the happiness of their sudden holiday.

08:00 Rihan (Bartaa) Checkpoint

In the upper parking lot on the Seam Zone side, youngsters tell us that "today is good." They arrived at the checkpoint at 07:00 and were already out of the terminal at 07:15.

In the lower (Palestinian) lot, ten loaded pick up trucks are waiting. Four others are in the inspection compound.

08:05 – four pick ups are called to the vehicle checkpoint. The check is slow. The dog is not inclined to work today. After about twenty minutes the compound is free and trucks enter. Their inspection ends at 09:20. Four tenders checked in an hour and a quarter! In the same time two quartets of private cars were checked. Each quartet takes 25 minutes.

S., the operations officer of the checkpoint, comes over to drive us back from the vehicle checkpoint. We complain about the slowness of the checks. S. prods one of the workers.

09:20 – eight pick ups are waiting in the parking lot, seven private cars are waiting on the road.

Twelve adults and six children in festive garb are waiting in front of the gate, which closed for a reason unclear to us. After a few minutes the gate opens and all are swallowed into the terminal.

E., the driver, tells us that residents of Yabed and Zebda can pass at Mevo Dotan and Amriha. Others can cross there only if they have permits for Rihan. He says that all the dirt tracks have been blocked.

09:30 – we leave, wondering about the origin of the olive trees that now decorate the area of the vehicle checkpoint.