Beit Iba, Wed 21.5.08, Afternoon
Observers:
Sara P., Tammie C. Natanya translating.
May-21-2008
|
Afternoon
. 14.45 Beit Iba. In the morning we received notice from the shift that donkey cars were not allowed to pass without the dog trainer being present. We were told that in the morning the dog had sniffed the pita bread. When we arrived there was no dog trainer and therefore people had to carry their own belongings. There was one righteous man who helped a man who had to carry his goods. Tammie began to go through the car lane from which one can also see how long the line is. From there straight to the checkpoint where Sarah was sent to stand in the sun. After a dialogue with the captain, the commander of the company he insisted that our place was to stand outside in the sun outside of his checkpoint. We went around and stood behind the handrail which is the border of the checkpoint. But he said that we were also forbidden to stand there and called in the police. We phoned Noami who referred to Semadar who was supposed to speak to Asam the Police advisor. After some minutes we phoned Gabi who had still not found him .
The enclosure was empty but next to the turnstile sat an elderly man with a boy. With the kind help of Tomer from the DCO who did everything he could to help those passing we were told that there was a problem with the man's ID which was being checked.
In general in spite of the attitude of the reservists and the commander the checkpoint was handled in an efficient and speedy manner. On our way out we stopped at the shop to check when the pita bread would arrive (as the morning shift had asked us). Now I spoke to Mina who was there in the morning and it seemed that the pita bread had arrived safely.