'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 1.9.08, Morning
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05:00 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint
About 100 men and women wait in the parking lot before the gate. A DCO man and three civilians (from the security company and/or the Defence Ministry Crossings Unit) are watching them from behind the fence. The men are entering in groups of five, and are not really letting the women in. The civilians say that it is not their job to organize the Palestinian queue.
05:20 – all swallowed by the terminal and whoever comes now goes straight in. Six loaded pick ups are already waiting for inspection that will begin at 06:00. Three cars are being checked at the lower vehicle checkpoint. A Border Police car arrives and disgorges three Palestinians by the vehicle checkpoint, who then go on into the West Bank. 05:35 – the terminal is blocked. People passing through the gate are compelled to wait in the entry sleeve 05:45 – scores of men waiting in the sleeve to pass into the Seam Zone. In the other direction passage is quick.
A man who works in Hadera tells us that he cannot return in a number 27 bus, which goes to Mevo Dotan, because the stop at Reihan Checkpoint is beyond the vehicle checkpoint. He asks for a stop to be placed by the parking lot at the entrance to the sleeve.
06:15 Aanin Checkpoint
Three tractors pass us on the road to the checkpoint. One driver calls from the distance to say that "today is good." Two men wait longer than usual near the soldiers. In addition to agricultural passes, they holdwork and sleepover permits for Israel, and are making sure that the soldiers record everything, so as to avoid problems about returning through here on a different day. A man tells us that his permit has expired today, but he already asked a month ago to renew it and it has not yet come. According to him, olive picking starts in two weeks.
06:55 – a soldier makes sure that we leave the area of the fence. Says that 50 men have crossed and more are waiting.
Thirty people wait beyond the fence. The permanent residents of the Seam Zone are exempt from the inspection hut when there is pressure. To our surprise there are no schoolchildren. Seems that because of Ramadan the Palestinian Authority is on the winter clock as of today.
07:35 – two well-turned-out children arrive for kindergarten and school in a family car. They pass by the soldiers and the father goes on his way after making sure that the children have crossed safely.
Little pedestrian and car traffic. Only two pickups wait at this hour. They tell us that 38 loaded trucks cross in a day from the West Bank to the Seam Zone, and only two in the other direction. Inspection of the pickups ends at 14:30.
08:10 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
We popped over again to see the children going to school. They pass quickly without a satchel check.
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