'Anabta, Qalqiliya, Mon 16.3.09, Morning
Translation: Galia S.
Ras Atiya
06:40 – About 15 workers are waiting to pass the magnetometer inspection and leave the village. Two pick-up trucks loaded with old refrigerators and, in addition, all kinds of electrical appliances are waiting to enter the village. One of them is allowed to pass, the other isn't.
Two cars are waiting to leave the village. First the drivers have to pass through the magnetometer, get back to the car and drive to the gate where the car is checked and then they can pass.
06:55 – All the workers that were waiting have passed, but, in trickles, more of them are still passing. The passage is quick.
We see a few trucks and pick-up trucks loaded mainly with old refrigerators. It turns out that only those who have a residence permit are allowed to pass through the village and get to Qalqiliya. (Just to remind you, it means moving from the so-called Israeli territory to the territories of the Palestinian Authority). In Qalqiliya they fix appliances that can still be repaired and the rest are sold as junk.
07:10 – Teachers and students start passing. They are not checked.
We leave and go to Ras at-Tira.
We see the arbitrary track where the new fence will be and which is the cause of uprooting tens of more than hundred-year-old olive trees and which goes through a hothouse, destroys a well and is contiguous to the houses of the village. The fence, which the village residents were told would be a wall, is built in accordance with the high court of justice ruling to return the three villages to the Palestinian Authorities. However, it is built so that all the village lands remain outside of the fence and not along the hillside, a track that will not interfere with the life of the Palestinians and will also "protect" the life of the expanding Alfei Menashe residents. For a long time we have been listening to the Palestinians talk about their pain, yet except for sympathizing with them we can do nothing to help.
Eliyahu Passage
08:25 – The usual line of cars at the entrance to Israel. There are no workers at this hour.
Qalqiliya
No checks and therefore no line at the entrance to the city and only random checks at the exit.
Anabta
The intensive earthworks go on. The bulldozers dig into the mountain and smash the rocks. Who knows what's in store for the Palestinians who today pass relatively easy at this checkpoint. Cars with Israeli licence plates also pass without inspection.
The soldiers that handle the passage of cars at the entrance to Anabta are the classic example of "a servant when he reigns". They teach the drivers who pass an imaginary line a lesson, send them back, detain them and then let them pass without inspection…
We have filed a detailed complaint against them at the Humanitarian Center and asked to refer our complaint to the DCO [District Coordination Office of the IDF Civil Administration that handles passage permits].