Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
15:50 Shaked-Tura CP
The work on the road leading to the checkpoint continues and expands. On the side of the road they are flattening a wide area; it is unclear for what purpose.
The muezzin’s voice sounds loud and clear. Two soldiers leave the checkpoint and approach a car that stops at the entrance. Then they approach us as well and ask who we are. Not waiting for an answer, they return to the checkpoint.
As usual at this checkpoint, there is little traffic. One of the people passing says that in the morning it was more or less ''OK ''. He claims that the closure
in the next 11 days (Sukkot) will also apply to the entrance to the seam zone, not just entry into Israel.
16:20 Rihan-Barta'a Checkpoint, seam zone side
We go down to the entrance of the terminal along with the crowd of workers returning from work. They pass quickly through the turnstile and bypass the terminal itself. Most of them are young men who work building the new city of Harish. A few of them are older, and there are a few women. Some of them greet us and others are interested in the closure, Hannah phones Ron, one of the managers of the checkpoint, and he says that the closure applies to entering Israel but not the passage to the seam zone. Tomorrow, the eve of Sukkot, the checkpoint will open at seven in the morning like on Fridays.
One of our acquaintances, an elderly man, is passing through the agriculture checkpoint Anin. He meets us with great joy.
16:50 we leave. The routine of the occupation and the checkpoints is discouraging.