Tura checkpint: Overcrowding! 5 cars are wating!!

06:40 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint

There are masses of workers at the junction. The parking lot on the Seamline Zone side is completely full with shuttle vehicles. A Border Police vehicle with armed male and female soldiers watches over the entrance to the checkpoint.

There’s still room in the parking lot on the Palestinian side and we’re able to park there. It’s filthy everywhere. At the entrance to the transit shed – cigarette and coffee seller shuts down around 7:30. Says he’s made 100 shekels – enough for today. Someone tells us that at the end of the passageway, at the top, only one position is working, which is why there’s chaos in the early morning. We are approached by two young men who are prevented by the police from entering Israel, one of whom can’t read. Someone helps him with the note with Sylvia’s details. At 7:30, scores of workers are still arriving and apparently getting through without delay.

7:45 Tura-Shaked checkpoint

Five or six cars are parked on the roadside – an unusual sight here. They are waiting for people who should be coming from the West Bank. It turns out that the checkpoint has only just been opened. Two of the workers tell us that they’ve been waiting since 6:30 and were held up because the computer wasn’t working. Later a soldier from the Border Police confirms that there was indeed a problem with the computer, but he managed to find a solution and get the people through.