Shaked, Rihan

Shaked, Rihan, Sunday January 2, 2005, PMObservers: Chani R., Limor B., Carmel B. (reporting)12:30 - 14:45Shaked gate - 12:30 - 13:15Two school girls stand on the other side of the fence while their father waits for them in his car to drive them home. A military vehicle, a Hummer, is parked on the other side . There are soldiers inside, but apparently due to the inclement weather, they prefer to stay inside rather then get out to open the gate.We approached the girls and found out that they had been standing there for about 40 minutes, in the cold. windy, rainy weather. The rest of the pupils had passed through before the girls arrived at the gate. All of a sudden, soldiers got out of the Jeep, waving their hands at us and yelling, "Go away from here." Once we distanced ourselves from the gate they opened it. Why couldn't they do it for the last 40 minutes? An old, lame man with a donkey waited all along by the gate. He wanted to go through the Shaked gate to visit his daughter in Um-Rihan (on the seam line). A staff sergeant detains him, calls his commander, and receives permission "according to your own judgment," to let the old man through. He decides against! The old man is forced to walk for an hour and a quarter in the pouring rain and the strong wind, all the way to the Rihan checkpoint. At the end of our shift we saw that the soldiers in Rihan did allow him to go through.Rihan checkpoint - 13:30 - 14:45Pouring rain. Women with babies in their arms walk from the vehicle inspection lane to the pedestrian lane. Now, when it rains, it is more obvious that the pedestrian shed is located at a distance from the inspection post and people are exposed to the rain.The fact that the soldiers are forbidden to speak to us is felt. It appears that a reminder of this ban is passed along from one shift to another, although it is quite clear that some of them do want to talk to us.Despite the order to stand 40 meters away from the post, we stood closer, without interference.Three boys, about 15 years of age, tried to go through without papers and in the end, following the procedure of "Rooch-Ta'al-Rooch-Ta'al" -- i.e: "Go,come, go, come," they were allowed through.An Arab Israeli tried to go in the lane designated for the settlers, which is at times used by Arab Israelis. |A soldier started yelling at him, "Go, fly away from here, you..." A second soldier puts his hand on him, pointing at us, and the yelling stops.