Seam Zone
22/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Hassida S., Ruthi T., (Reporting)
Translation: Bracha B.A.
16:10-17:30
16:10 – Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
There are few people crossing. It is cold and rainy and there are dark clouds to the southwest and a rainbow in the clouds to the north. The well-dressed banker's new car is still not listed on his permit, and he has to walk back to his home in Dahar al Malakh. A youth rides through on a white donkey, both are wet. A soldier in the lookout point plays songs on his harmonica.
16:40 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
There are a lot of workers hurrying down the sleeve to the terminal. There are two windows open. Rain is pouring down on the small covered area in front of the turnstile and it remains open, evidently out of consideration for the people who are hurrying in out of the rain and arrive wet. One of the workers tells us that he worked all day welding without any roof over his head. There are four "illegals" sitting on the bench. One of them is an old friend of Hassida's and is pleased to see her and sends regards to everyone, especially to Tami.
19/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Tzafrira Zamir, Neta Golan
Translator: Charles K.
14:55 A’anin checkpoint
Four tractors and a few people wait in the rain and cold. The soldiers open the checkpoint gates exactly at 15:00; people cross quickly. The driver of the tractor, who told us that 26 farmers from A’anin are allowed to cross through the Shaked-Tura checkpoint when the A’anin checkpoint is closed (cf. report from 29.12.11), said he’d received a new agricultural permit and even took advantage of the opportunity to cross through the Tura checkpoint. He said he was even allowed to go through in his car, which shortens the trip from A’anin to the checkpoint from an hour and a half (by tractor) to 25 minutes (by car). He doesn’t know whether other farmers from A’anin crossed at Tura.
15:25 Shaked-Tura checkpoint
Little traffic at this hour, either vehicles or pedestrians.
A resident of Tura whose home is located right next to the checkpoint is employed there as a janitor by a Palestinian company. He cleans six checkpoints, from Jubara near Tulkarm to Shaked-Tura, and earns only NIS 2000/month and NIS 700 car allowance. He has land in the seam zone but usually gets a permit only during the olive harvest. His brother has a shop in Barta’a, but he can’t a permit to work and remain there. He’s allowed to enter the seam zone only as far as the concrete barriers before the checkpoint. He says he isn’t granted a permit because he objected to the demolition of a porch and uprooting of cypress trees in front of his house when the separation fence was erected. His opposition succeeded; the fence was erected without damaging the porch or the trees, but his freedom of movement and income were curtailed.
16:00 Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint, the seam zone side
A pickup truck and a few cars wait to cross to the seam zone.
Laborers come down through the fenced corridor and immediately go through the terminal. Beautiful, proud female students return from class on the West Bank. Two guys carry a large carton containing a 42” flat-screen TV. The gate is opened for them because of the TV set, so they don’t have to go through the revolving gate. But an old woman carrying two large sacks doesn’t get the same treatment; people on line help her take her sacks through the revolving gate. Some families with small children cross in either direction, perhaps because schools are on vacation. Three children on their way to the West Bank are trapped in the revolving gate. Their mother remained behind. In response to our request, the person conducting the inspections released the gate and let the mother in as well.
When two windows are open in the terminal, there’s almost no line. When the terminal is congested, at about 16:30, and one of the windows closes for a short time, a line of 30-40 people forms. Our phone call to the person in charge apparently helps; the second window reopens and the line quickly disappears.
17:00 We leave the checkpoint as the laborers continue to come down through the fenced corridor, many carrying sacks of oranges. The scent of citrus is intoxicating.
17/01/2012 ,Morning
Leila S. and Hana H.
6:05 - Reihan checkpoint
On the way to the checkpoint we notice the accelerated construction in the olive grove that has become a "state land" of the settlement of Reihan.
It is raining and not too many people go out to work.
Exit from the terminal is quick and well organized.
We are told that yesterday afternoon were a few obstacles at the X-ray machine, which caused significant delays and crowding (a line of more than 200!)
7:00 - Shaked checkpoint
The soldiers open the gates and passage on both sides begins immediately.
Despite the new fences and new lanes at the terminal, they did not bother to build a shed on the Tura side and people have to wait in the rain.
Schools are on vacation until Feb.1st.
15/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Ruthi T., Yochi A., (Reporting)
Translation: Bracha B.A.
15:10 – Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
Two soldiers approached us and told us not to get any closer to the checkpoint. There is little traffic. A few people cross from the West Bank to the seamline zone: one with a bag of pita bread, a student with a book, and three men are carrying new chairs. A heavy military vehicle with a shovel crosses the checkpoint and returns with a shovel full of good black earth. When we looked for it later we saw that at the checkpoint they are preparing a garden. A tractor loaded with plastic strips crosses to the West Bank with almost no inspection. The driver goes through the inspection facility.
We left at 15:40.
15:50 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
There is a new bucket hanging above the well at the entrance which is very decorative. 12 trucks are waiting to be checked.
We continued towards the Dotan Checkpoint. The charcoal factories in the area are not working and there is no smoke and no smell. (There was an order given to close the charcoal factories.) A soldier informs us that the charcoal factories were closed because of the carcinogenic materials they were exuding and because the trees being used were stolen. We remind him that many families had been earning their living for hundreds of years from the work in the charcoal factories and now have no jobs. We asked him how he felt about that and his reply was, "very good."
16:15 – Dotan Checkpoint – the checkpoint is manned and cars are undergoing a quick inspection. There is a brief exchange with the drivers and a quick peep inside each car. On back at the exit from the Barta'a checkpoint we are delayed for a long time. The clerk confers with someone on the phone. Finally she checks the trunk of the car and lets us through. At 16:20 an armed guard leaves the inspection facility, walks into the middle of the road, and looks at the workers coming back. Four cars leave the inspection facility. Two are driven by women.
There are a lot of people going into the sleeve. Workers are being dropped off by Israeli and Palestinian employers. Two windows are open in the terminal and people are going through quickly. A woman who speaks Hebrew with an Israeli passport crosses from the West Bank to her home in West Barta'a (on the Israeli side) with her three children. She is waiting for her husband who is still being checked. Everyone speaks Hebrew. She is a little nervous and explains that this is the first time she has going through the checkpoint. There is one detainee sitting on the bench.
We left at 17:00.
12/01/2012 ,Morning
Shula Bar (photographing), Neta Golan (reporting)
Translator: Charles K.
06:05 A’anin checkpoint
Only a few people crossing on this cold and rainy morning. They include a good-natured, toothless elderly woman who refused our offer to get in the car so we could give her a ride to her destination. She’ll wait in the wind and rain for her grandson from Umm Reihan to pick her up.
06:30 Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint
A few taxi vans wait in the upper parking lot for people crossing from the West Bank to the seam zone. Laborers who’ve already come through the terminal wait for their rides under the canopy at the end of the fenced corridor. The lower Palestinian parking lot is still empty. Vehicles transporting people from the West Bank who work in the seam zone, and in Barta’a, let them out; they immediately enter the terminal. There’s not much traffic.
Six large pickup trucks loaded with agricultural produce wait on the road for their documents to be checked before their cargo is inspected. Two more pickup trucks next to the canopy load flats of eggs. There’s a notice posted there in Arabic with the phone number of the Crossings Administration.
A delicate rainbow is visible above the filthy road. What a contrast!
07:05 Dothan checkpoint
We visited our friend W. at the new location of the charcoal kiln, which had been moved here after the kilns in the Dothan Valley and elsewhere had been shut down because they made it difficult for the settlers in the area to breathe. They’re not now burning wood here either, but packing charcoal that arrived from somewhere else. W. sleeps in a temporary shelter for the sacks of charcoal that are well-covered with plastic. His bed is exposed to the wind and rain. Even the miserable dog tied there has a corner to himself. He doesn’t want us to talk to his boss, who promised him a container. During the past few days he received special shipments of warm coats and clothing from his friends in Machsom Watch.
07:55 Tayibe Rummaneh checkpoint (below Umm el-Fahm)
A military jeep parked between the fences. The gates are still locked – they’re supposed to open at 08:00. A Hummer arrives, the jeep and Hummer leave, one tractor and three farmers are waiting.
08:10 A border police jeep arrives together with an MP whose job it is to check the permits of those crossing.
08:20 “Everyone” crossed. The border police and the MP have to wait until 08:30. We don’t.
11/01/2012 ,Morning
Hedva H., Nava R.
08:50 - Shaked-Tura
There is no school, only exams. School children return from their exams and cross over without any problems.
A female tour guide wants to bring in a group of 13-and 14-year-olds, from the West Bank into the Seam Line zone, We referred her to the DCO.
A resident of Daher-el-Malec, whose father passed away not long ago, tells us that his brothers, residents of the West Bank ,do not receive permits to visit the Seam Line zone.
10:10 - Riehan-Barta'a checkpoint
Very crowded at the Palestinian car park.
Two trucks wait for pre-inspection.
Later a few pick-up truck as well as loaded vans had arrived. all is "as usual".
11:10 - We left.
09/01/2012 ,Morning
Leah R., Anna N.S
Translator: Charles K.
06:20 A’anin agricultural checkpoint
An especially cold day, few people going to work – only a few dozen. The procedures are conducted in the front portion of the checkpoint. A youth isn’t allowed through; he returns from whence he came. A minute later he shows up holding some document which doesn’t satisfy the soldiers who send him back again. A man coming through said they didn’t let him cross because his birth certificate wasn’t enough for the soldiers; they wanted him to bring a parent (he was 12-16 years old).
The children of the Bedouin family living at the foot of the checkpoint are excited. There’s an English test today; the girls examine us, whether we can read English and perhaps even some Arabic.
07:00 Tura (Shaked) checkpoint
The soldiers arrive now at the checkpoint, which opens ten minutes later to people coming from the West Bank to the seam zone. Most of those crossing to the West Bank are vehicles, pupils and students, functionaries and other workers. The pupils come running, open their school bags, soldiers check and they go across. Nothing special is happening. The occupation routine! Both the horse and its rider know what they have to do; everyone plays the game perfectly.
07:40 - 08:20 New Barta’a checkpoint
The lower parking lot is completely filled with Palestinian vehicles. People coming from the West Bank enter the terminal without delay. Everything seems to proceed peacefully. The scanner doesn’t expose what people are feeling as they enter and leave. We get hints from their comments when we say “Shalom” as they pass us: “What peace? Peace with whom?”
Trucks loaded with food wait on the road for their turn to be inspected.
A rainbow arcs across the sky but immediately changes its mind. Heavy gray rain clouds cover the sky. We hurry to pick up a father and his two small children to bring them to Rambam Hospital. Another slight delay while the father’s identity is verified, and why didn’t he coordinate his trip ahead of time, and other questions that are asked very politely – but aren’t able to conceal the fact that the negotiation is being conducted between the ruler and the ruled. And at the same time Israeli vehicles cross in both directions with a wave of the hand, and then disappear.
08/01/2012 ,Morning
Ruthi T., Hasida S. (reporting)
Translator: Charles K.
Tura (Shaked) checkpoint 07:05-07:35
The checkpoint's gates are open and traffic flows. People aren’t held up at the turnstile on the Tura side, and there's no line of cars waiting to enter Palestinian Authority territory. The banker arrives at the checkpoint from his village, on foot. He's bought a new car but doesn’t yet have a permit to enter and leave from Tura, only from Barta’a. So he leaves the car at Tura and walks home and to the checkpoint.
Pupils crossing through the checkpoint
A few children aged about nine arrive on foot from nearby Daher al-Malk. The school transport arrives at the same time with about 15 children, in kindergarten and the lower grades. They leave the vehicle and run happily toward the checkpoint, opening their schoolbags for the female soldier to inspect (she’s armed but her weapon isn’t cocked; a soldier nearby guards her, also armed but not pointing his gun at the children). She peeks into the bags; the children run quickly to the Tura exit gate. At the same time Y., the driver, leaves his vehicle outside the gate, walks to the inspection building, returns to the vehicle, and drives toward the soldiers, who open the doors and peek in. He then exits the checkpoint toward Tura and picks up any children who need a ride. Some of them walk on their own to the village school.
Barta’a (Reihan) checkpoint 07:45-8:20
The parking lot is almost full but no one is double-parked yet. The new “kiosk” stands next to the prayer corner; a friendly guy offers his wares: coffee, tea, cigarettes and sweets.
We left a letter with him, from Chana to someone from Yabed village, explaining what he must do to obtain a permit to work in Israel. After some misunderstanding (T., wearing a red keffiyeh, offered to take the letter to Yabed for NIS 50, but the owner of the kiosk eventually understood that the person would come pick it up from him and everything was arranged).
A pickup truck loaded with merchandise waited to be called for document inspection. He’s the only one for now, and seems to be waiting until more vehicles arrive. The first wave of merchandise inspections apparently hasn’t been completed yet (the inspection includes unloading all the merchandise wrapped in plastic, inspecting all the items, putting them back into the plastic wrapping and leaving. The entire procedure, involving Palestinian porters and inspectors who are apparently Israelis, takes place behind closed doors and lasts about two hours).
Mevo Dothan checkpoint 08:30-08:40
We left a bag containing women’s clothing in the village (with a woman who wanted a ride to Jenin but then realized that we weren’t going there). We didn’t have any children’s clothing.
At the Dothan checkpoint, as usual, the soldiers saw us from afar and approached to warn us not to cross into Area A. The soldiers are apparently an ultra-Orthodox Nahal unit. A long line of vehicles is visible coming from Jenin, and another line has already formed on our side. Although vehicles going to Jenin must cross “wahad-wahad” (one-by-one), they’re not inspected. Vehicles coming from Jenin have only their documents inspected, because the road doesn’t lead to Israel but to other Palestinian villages.
We understood that things would go faster if we left, so we did. Later, in Barta’a (where we went to bring warm clothing to our friend W., whom we’ve known since he was a youth), we heard that yesterday ( On Saturday? The ultra-Orthodox Nahal unit?) there was a long line and soldiers conducted a very slow, careful inspection, and it was hard.
06/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Rachela C.
Mini shift: I was visiting in Daher-el-Malec (Friday noon) and after leaving B.'s house I drove to the nearby checkpoints - Shaked and later to Riehan.
14:40 - 14:55 Shaked checkpoint
Windy and cold!!! it seem that a lot of rain fell. Outside: 2 female soldiers (Military Police), 2 male soldiers - one at the elevated post another inside the shed.
During the time I stood there one car crossed in the direction of Tura. and I've heard of someone, a resident of Daher-el-Malec, who had arrived from Ya'abed and was detained for a long time at the checkpoint until she was let through.
15:05 - 15:20 Reihan checkpoint
A Palestinian car parked in front of the inspection post. its driver sits at the "amusement park".
When I left the car was still at that same point, its driver inside. Many workers arrive in cars bearing yellow plates. at this time the seamstresses had arrive.
Entry to the terminal is in groups of five and the turnstile keeps stopping (there's always someone stuck in it). The line is not too long. While I was there two windows were open. About 10 people set by the side. Before I left I watched them walking in the direction of the far window, perhaps they were called there. One of the people who waited outside the turnstile explain to me that when people return to the West Bank with no passage permit (Illegal aliens) they are punished by one to two hours' detention and then they undergo inspection. Cars with yellow plates go through without delays.
The rain has stopped, the skies are clear, the sun is out, vision is clear in all directions, the view is outstanding. Looking from the road one can see the ongoing building in the settlement of Riehan. At Um-el-Rihan I could observe a new unfinished chicken coop. I was told that construction has been interrupted. By whose order???
05/01/2012 ,Afternoon
Tzafrira Zamir, Neta Golan
Translation: Bracha B.A.
15:13 – A'anin Checkpoint
The gates are open and people and tractors are passing through. Three girls from the Bedouin clan, who live beneath the checkpoint, whom we know and see many mornings while they wait for their ride to school, are dressed up to greet their uncle who is coming from A'anin. He does not arrive, and the soldiers tell us that even if he does come he cannot cross to the seamline zone at this hour.
Two young men whose permits have expired on December 31st, 2011 are debating whether to go home through A'anin checkpoint or to go with us to the Reihan checkpoint. The checkpoint commander, a staff sergeant, promises us that he will let them through and not confiscate their ID cards if they are "not criminals." The two young men enter the area between the two gates and the first sergeant and the policewoman begin to call and check. At 15:45 two farmers arrive and cross through. The checkpoint is open until 16:00. At 16:00 one of the young men is released and allowed to go home. The gates of the checkpoint are closed. We wait until 16:15, when the other young man is allowed to leave.
16:25 – Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
A few workers, a car, two trucks and a donkey and wagon cross to the West Bank. A family crosses to the seamline zone.
16:50 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint - The Seamline Zone Side
Three vehicles and their passengers are waiting to cross to the West Bank. Workers are entering the sleeve carrying bags of oranges. There is no line at the entrance to the terminal. Four detainees are waiting on the bench and two windows are operating. Occasionally the clerk at the windows deal with students and families going towards the seamline zone and a line builds up but quickly disappears again. One of the people passing through marvels that "they are working nicely". We notice that the upper arms of the turnstile at the entrance have been covered with black rubber to prevent possible injuries to people passing through.
At 17:15 we left, but workers continued to arrive. There are still three cars waiting to cross to the West Bank. The bus from the "Shomron Development Company crosses to the seamline zone without being stopped.
