north: A proud father crossed to the West Bank with his small daughter wearing a red dress
14:50 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
There were only a few people but lots of filth. The garbage container was gone and the garbage was thrown on the ground. It appeared that the disposable food containers and plastic bags were mostly garbage belonging to the soldiers.
A proud father crossed to the West Bank with his small daughter wearing a red dress. A single car waited too long in order to cross. A mother and her small son were waiting for a ride under the shed. The mother is an X-ray technician who works at the hospital in Jenin, and her son attends kindergarten nearby. Two students join them and waited. Another car arrived and also had to wait.
15:10 – A’anin Checkpoint
The gates
were locked and no one was there. We were surprised since usually the farmers from A’anin arrive before the checkpoint opens at 15:15. When the hour arrived two army vehicles passed along the security road, but did not stop. Perhaps the opening hour had been changed? We called the District Liaison and Cc-ordination Office several times, but there was no answer. When we called our friend M. we found out that there has been a funeral in A’anin of one of the residents, a 68-year-old man, and everyone had returned to the village for the funeral, so no one was left to cross in the afternoon.
15:40 – We drove past Barta’a Checkpoint and went to F.’s grocery store in Emricha as we usually do. We enjoyed talking with F., her mother, mother-in-law, and two of her daughters. We continued driving east on Route 585 to Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint on the way to Jenin. The checkpoint was not manned and the sale of houses in the settlement of Mevo Dotan continues. We continued southwest and Hermesh checkpoint was also not manned. The road to Kaffin and Baka el Sharkiya and Tulkarem was open.
16:20 – Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint
People were returning from work and drivers were standing on both sides of the crossing shed shouting their destinations. The parking lot was emptying out at this time of day.
16:40 – When we were walking back to our car a resident of Barta’a and his wife stopped us. He had two complaints: One was that after 20:00 people can cross the checkpoint through simply driving through the vehicle crossing, but if they arrive five minutes earlier they have to take the long way through the terminal and along the sleeve to the other end. What is the logic in this? His wife complained that she, like other women, was forced to cross through the narrow passageway where men and women were crowded together. We told them that we could not change the situation, but that we could write about it.