'Anin, Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 12.3.09, Afternoon

Translated by L.W

At 13:00 we took a baby, Aya, from dialysis at Rambam Hospital, with her mother, and a child after treatment of leukemia, with his father, to Jalame checkpoint.

14:30 Jalame Checkpoint

The parking lot is full of cars, and the pedestrians are mostly Israeli Arabs who are permitted to enter the territories for the day. They are buying in Jenin and visiting relatives – returning loaded down with shopping bags. Traffic is without delays.

15:07 Aanin Checkpoint
The checkpoint gate is open. It is already two weeks that an Aanin resident is trying to take broken plastic chairs to the village. Like previous times, they are not allowing him, because it is forbidden to bring "scrap" here. He will continue to try until perhaps someone will not be aware of the order, or it will be changed.

A woman is detained on her way back to Aanin: she has with her a child who is not the one with whom she crossed in the morning. The soldiers asked his name, and when he gave it, it was clear that she had entered in the morning with a child of a different name. The soldiers called an officer, who arrived with an armored jeep and an armored transport for prisoners. He interrogated the child and decided to keep him at the checkpoint. The soldier demanded that the child who crossed in the morning should now appear.

An elderly worker is trying to cross with a tractor, the shovel of which is full of grasses that he had collected in the fields. The soldiers discover under the grasses some old clothes, which the man claimed to have found in a rubbish dump. He was required to leave all the old clothes. According to the orders, only food can be taken through this checkpoint...

The Hummer standing by the checkpoint had its engine running all the time we are there. Sima called the DCO and also asked the soldiers to turn the engine off. According to them, the engine stays on because otherwise the battery dries up.

We left at 15:45, the checkpoint closed and the woman with the child remained by the concrete barrier. It was no clear how that affair ended.

 

16:00 Shaked Checkpoint
Almost no traffic.

At the entrance we met a family – parents with two children. The father related that he is an Israeli Arab and his wife is a resident of Tura in the West Bank. They live in Arara with the children. The woman has both a Palestinian and an Israeli ID card. The Israeli card he has to renew in Hadera Interior Ministry office every year, and apart from the wasted time in the journeys he has to pay 600 shekels each time. It has been this way for 12 years. The wife crosses with the children to visit her family, with a permit that her sister brings to the checkpoint. The family live just across the checkpoint, but the husband cannot enter with them because Israeli Arabs are only allowed to cross at Jalame. He says that he has not visited his wife’s family for three years, even though you can almost touch their home from where his car is parked.

16:30 Reihan Checkpoint

The lower Palestinian parking lot is full of vehicles waiting to transport workers who are returning from their jobs. They pass the checkpoint quickly (seven minutes from the sleeve to the parking lot). They report that two, and sometimes three, windows are open and the process is without delays.

Two vehicles with produce are being inspected and there are no more waiting.