Seam Zone
31/01/2012 ,Morning
Leila S., Hana H.
6:05 - Reihan checkpoint
There aren't many vans or workers at the upper car park. It turns out that many had already left for work. We go down the sleeve and meet only a few workers.
It's quiet at the terminal and the few that come out report being inside for 40 minutes and that there are about 70 more people there. They still talk about the "Great mess" of last week.
6:25 Pace of exit from the terminal picks up a bit. People come out faster and appear content, but they all complain of last week; "Today the machine is finally in order".
One worker tells us that his Seam Line zone resident card was recentlysubstuituted for a of Ya'abed resident card and now he needs a passage permit.
Towards 7:00 o'clock the movement of vehicles and passengers from the Seam Line zone begins in the direction of the West Bank.
7:00 - Shaked checkpoint
The soldiers arrive only now and the checkpoint opens for business at 7:10. Passage of vehicles and pedestrians is fast in both directions.
Tomorrow, Wednesday ,school begins.
25/01/2012 ,Morning
Chedva H., Nava R. (reporting)
Four trucks waited for inspection prior to entering the Seam Line zone. At 10:30 they entered the inspection area. At the Palestinian car park many drivers waited for passengers.
Workers and merchants from Barta'a have arrived, as usual with the required permits. They entered the terminal and went through all but one, a resident of Zebeida, in the West Bank, whose origins are from East Barta'a, in the Seam Line zone. He came with his six-year-old son. The man holds a valid work permit in the Seam Line zone and his son is registered on his I.D. He and his son wanted to visit his mother, the grandmother, who lives in East Barta'a. He was not allowed to cross with his son.
We were unable to get hold of Sharon the checkpoint manager, and instead we called the Salem DCO, where we were given a telephone number for public appeals at Beth-El. The answer given to us there was that the man has a work permit that does not include his son, and for a visit he needs to apply for a special permit.
There were talk about children's kidnapping etc. The man and his son returned home to Zbeida.
24/01/2012 ,Morning
Hannah H.
Translation: Bracha B.A. 06:00 – Reihan Checkpoint The upper parking lot is filled with cars but there are only few people. I was told that the checkpoint opened at 05:00 but that things were not running smoothly – the machine was working but the people were not. Women coming towards me in the sleeve report that the terminal is crowded and people are delayed. They demand that I "Tell them." I wish I could. At 06:15 there is a big crowd of people waiting in front of the entrance to the terminal like I have never seen before. There is a lot of noise and commotion, but no one is coming out. Soon people begin to come out, but not in an orderly manner – a group comes out and then there is a pause, then another group and a pause. 06:30 – a woman is waiting for her friends who have not come out yet. Eventually they come out. Another group has gone in but only two of them come out. At 06:40 all the women workers have usually come out by now, but today they are still coming out. The men come out at a run since they are already very late for work. At 06:45 people stop coming out again and there is a commotion inside the terminal grows louder. People who usually come out at 06:30 only got out at 07:05 today. There are still people waiting at the entrance to the terminal to go inside.
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.
18/01/2012 ,Morning
Vivien S.B., Marika, Nava R. (reporting)
08:30 Shaked-Tura checkpoint
Only a few people went through.
A resident of Daher-el-Malec, who speaks fluent Hebrew, approached us and told us that the village gets its water through a very narrow pipe which produces an extremely weak stream of water, while at the settlements in the vicinity of Reihan and Shaked the pipes are of a much larger diameter and they have no water problems whatsoever.
We told him that yesterday there was an article about that issue in the newspaper.
09:40 Reihan-Barta'a checkpoint
There were no trucks with produce. At 10:00 a number of trucks came out following inspection and the trucks that came in the meantime, drove inside the inspection post. Those who arrive at the checkpoint with proper papers enter at once and cross either to the Seam Line zone or to the West Bank. Passage time is 7-15 minutes.
Many more Palestinians do not bother to come to the checkpoint due to lack of permits, knowing that they would not be allowed to go through.
11:00 Things are "as usual". we left the checkpoint.
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.
