North, Torra: Until when? Asks a Palestinian and refers to the occupation
.
14:40 - Y’bed-Dotan Checkpoint
It appears that there are soldiers in the watch tower. Palestinians cars pass through the checkpoint in two directions without delay, except for the constraints 0f slowing down in order to pass between the cement blocks.
15:00 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint, the Palestinian side
We haven’t see the parking lot so full in a long time. Many cars park outside the parking lot as well, on the sides of the road to Jenin, and in two parking lots above the hill. Are more people permitted to pass through to work in Israel via Barta’a Checkpoint in the morning? We don’t know. Drivers wait for passengers and declare their destinations. The call heard the most today was to Nablus (Shechem), and not to Jenin, as usual. People are already returning from work. Most leave from the metal shed, from the narrow side opening, and not from the wide main opening. The wonders of checkpoint design. Also among those returning are our acquaintances, the seamstresses, who approach us in friendship. Prayer rugs are spread out in the shade of the shed. One man approaches to pray. There are already three small children who sell coffee from a thermos. All three want us to buy and drink. A banana merchant requests to give us a banana as a gift. We prefer to buy.
15:30 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
There is hardly any traffic. There is quiet and filth. One man approaches us and complains about an Arab (Druze) soldier, who, according to this man, looks unpleasantly at those who pass through as if trying to get a response from them. The man adds that this morning, the checkpoint only opened at 07:15 (instead of at 06:30).
15:45 – Anin Checkpoint
The soldiers are in place and open on time. About 60 people stand as a mass at the opening of the checkpoint, waiting to return home to the village. One soldier is opposite them; he allows them to enter and a female soldier arranges them in line next to the middle gate (there are three gates
at the checkpoint). Permits are checked and people pass through. People continue to arrive and pass through the checkpoint. One man says/asks, “Until when will this continue?” We don’t understand. We thought, erroneously, that he is asking until when will the olive harvest continue. No, his question was much more serious: Until when will the present condition continue? He points to the fences and the gates. There is no answer.
16:10 - We leave. We don’t stay until they close the gates, at 16:45.
The pray rugs are spread the length of the shed, past the Barta’a Checkpoint, for the benefit of those who pass through and return during prayer hours.