Every day they check me again

16:10-17:00

We were able to observe only Jalameh Checkpoint today which we visit only occasionally.    This checkpoint is actually located on the green line and would serve as a legitimate border crossing if we could cross with a passport and Palestinian clerks would stamp it when we arrived on the other side.    It currently serves as a crossing for thousands of workers who cross from the West bank into Israel and back again as well as a crossing point for vehicles belonging to Israeli Arabs, despite the warnings not to enter Area A.  At no point is there any notice forbidding Jews to enter.  The checkpoint has changed drastically recently.  The old parking lot only serves as a place for the workers to enter their parking lot near the terminal.  It can no longer be crossed to get to the parking lot for busses.   The workers have to walk all the way around through a long sleeve to get there, as is the case at Barta’a Checkpoint.   We were told by the security guards that this was done for the safety of the workers who had often been injured by cars in the small crowded parking lot.

New men’s and women’s rest rooms have also been built as well as a kiosk facing the large parking lot.  The shaded area where people wait is no longer accessible to people who are crossing at the checkpoint and it is separated from the sleeve by a locked gate.   We stood next to it and tried to exchange a few words with the workers who were hurrying home in the summer heat.  Someone was carrying a large roll of synthetic grass on his shoulder. 

An older woman stopped to complain about the harassing inspections that she is subjected to every morning.   “Like this and like this and like this,” she demonstrated. As if they still failed to recognize her.