Rihan

Rihan, Monday, January 31, 2005, PMObserving and reporting: Shula and Mara14:20 - 15:45At the pedestrian passage:Only a few people arrive at the gate and they all go through without delays. This is true for both directions. The process of taming the residents of the West Bank and the enclave zone is complete. At this time they all know that without passage permits there is no point in coming to the checkpoint. One just gives up.An elderly women (from the West Bank), and her daughter (from Nazareth, Israel), who had finished the inspection process at the pedestrian lane, were waiting for the son's car to pick them up. The car was delayed due to a dead battery. The mother appeared ill, could hardly stand on her feet. The daughter came especially with her two sons, to take her mother to a hospital in Nazareth. With the permission of the soldiers, we escorted the two to their car, so that the sick woman could at least sit and wait inside the car. The daughter was moved by our gesture and kissed us both on both cheeks.At the vehicle checkpoint:The vehicles were inspected in a most strict fashion, as if there were an early, focused warning about terrorist activity. In line there were 8-10 cars at any given moment.As far as we were able to judge, there was no restriction as to quantities of merchandise.Apparently the egg season is at its peak. Today too, we saw a commercial vehicle overloaded with eggs; it went through with the entire quantity after each crate was taken out of the vehicle for inspection.The soldiers (male and female) worked efficiently and in a matter-of-fact manner.