Reihan, Shaked, Tue 17.2.09, Morning

Translation: Devorah K.

Shaked CP

We arrived at 07:05; it was cold and drizzling. The first people to go through to the seamline zone tell us that the passage is quick. Cars are being inspected. One soldier does the inspection and another soldier stands with his rifle drawn (see illustration). Many children are going through on their way to school (as usual we are sorry that they are so well acquainted with the figure of a soldier with his rifle at the ready). One fellow comments to us that it is not good for the children to have to be x-rayed; the concern is heard from time to time that the magnometer radiation may cause damage to health.

A man in a car tells us that a few days ago, he arrived at the CP with a sick child when the CP was closed. He phoned the DCO to ask them to open it so that he could get to the clinic, and they refused, saying there was nothing they could do about it (another well-known local problem). The residents of the seamline zone depend on the medical services that are west of the CP.

07:30 - a delay in the pavilion. The pupils have to wait for a while before they are allowed to enter the pavilion and they are angry at the delay on the way to school.

07:43 - An older man with a donkey, who always goes through the CP, has been standing and waiting on the other side ever since we arrived. The soldiers now approach him for the second time and talk to him. A man who gets out of a car explains to us that there is now a veto on taking animals through because of the spread of foot and mouth disease. Now we understand why the goat herd that is usually here is absent as well.

Reihan CP

08:00 - In the vehicle lane, three women in a taxi with a green licence plate swipe magnetic cards outside the hut in addition to the inspection of their IDs. Those emerging from the sleeve report that the passage is orderly.

In the lower Palestinian parking lot the drivers report that today the CP opened at five thirty instead of at five and people had to wait. They also report that the Ameriha CP on the road to Jenin opened on time, at 05:00.

08:20 - One pickup truck with goods is waiting. Apparently all the others went through earlier.

One of the taxi drivers complains that there is a settler who "makes a lot of trouble" on the road - intentionally bars their passage, pounds his car ... We suggested that he file a complaint in the police station with details of the car, and he said that in court they wouldn't listen to him, an Arab, when the other side is a Jewish settler.