Shaked, Rihan

Shaked, Rihan, Sunday, February 6, 2005, PMObservers:Chani R., Carmel B. (reporting)12:40 - 14:4012:40: Shaked - About 25 pupils are waiting on the eastern side of the gate, among them two men wishing to go into the West Bank. At 12:45, a Jeep arrives and the soldiers let all go through. It is hard to tell if its arrival had anything to do with fact that we were there, (there are cameras on site, and the army sees movements near the gate at all times). According to the students, even on Saturday, the gate didn't open. One of the men said that pupils who attend school in the village of Tura return from school at 13:30, yet it seems that the soldiers wait until 14:00 before they open the gate. They want them all to cross together.Passage through that gate involves wallowing in a large puddle of mud, and each student finds his/her creative way to cross it safely.12:50: Rihan - At the vehicle inspection post, there are three or four cars awaiting inspection. Drivers are requested to spread their belongings on the wet, muddy ground. Other than that, passage is handled in a "reasonable" way.At the pedestrian inspection post, a few people are waiting for the military police female soldier to finish reading her book. When another soldier brings to her attention that people are waiting for her, she reluctantly puts down her book, and starts her work with "Y'alla, ta'al'" (Hey, get over here).We see one detainee, handcuffed, standing by the pedestrian post and waiting. A police officer arrives at the scene, starts questioning him, and at one point takes off the cuffs, allowing the detainee to smoke. An hour later, a police car arrives, picking up both the detainee and the police officer. We couldn't find out more about what was going on.14:00 - Back at the Shaked gate, we found about six pupils of various ages and three adults waiting for it to open. We called the Salem DCO to inform them that people were waiting by the closed gate and within one minute a military Hummer arrived and the gate was opened.14:40 - We ended our shift at the Rihan checkpoint; there were no pedestrians, and two or three vehicles were in the process of inspection, including the spreading of personal belongings on the bare, wet, muddy ground.