'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana
05:45 – Central Checkpoint, Barta’a-Reihan, the Seamline Zone Side
In comparison to the not-too-distant past, today only a few people passed the checkpoint and went up to the upper parking lot. They wait for transportation to work on the roadside and in the shelter. Most work in Barta’a, some in Harish in Israel. In the “sleeve”, the enclose passage leading to and from the terminal, a thin stream of people continues to go up. Four inspection windows are open in the terminal; that is definitely enough for the small number of people. Two security guards from the Israeli security company who operate the checkpoint approach us. We try to understand why there are relatively so few people here. Why do the many people who used to pass through here in past years, those who build Harish, for example, must pass to Israel through more distant and crowded checkpoints? The security guards don’t know. They are not responsible for those changes, rather, the DCO (District Coordination Office) is; everything is under their authority.
06:25 – Agricultural Checkpoint Anin
The checkpoint and the village is lit with the light of a new dawn. The separation fence with all of the checkpoints and gates, and the large area surrounding it, partitions the village of Anin and a large part of the land that belongs to the village’s residents. The gate that faces the Seamline Zone is open and army vehicles leave from it. One of the vehicles stops and soldiers clarify what we are doing there. At 06:30, the official opening hour of the checkpoint, vehicles from the military police and from the DCO arrive and now two additional gates are opened in the area of the checkpoint.
06:40 – The first Palestinian leaves. Altogether 26 people and one tractor pass through. Among them are 5 women who walk to visit relatives in the next Palestinian village, Umm Reihan. One of the women has a married daughter there. Another treats us to pastries she has made.They are delicious.
07:05 – Agricultural Checkpoint Tayibe-Rumana
The soldiers who have earlier operated the Anin Checkpoint arrive at this one. They travel on the roadway that runs along the length of the security fence, and we travel on the alleyways of the city of Umm-al-Fahm. They precede u, and when we arrive the gates of the checkpoint are already open. The fence here separates between the villages of Rumana and Tayibe and the narrow strip of land (the green line, which served as the boundary before the 1967 War). Here is the Seamline Zone, at the foot of Umm-al Fahm. Thirteen people and 3 tractors pass through.
07:15 – We leave and on our way home, we see the tractors turning to the parcels of land that are cut off from their villages.
'Anin checkpoint (214)
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'Anin checkpoint (214)
'Anin checkpoint is located on the Separation Fence east of the Israeli community Mei Ami and close to the village of Anin in the West Bank. It is opened twice a week, morning and afternoon, on days with shorter light time, for Anin farmers whose olive groves have been separated from the village by the fence it became difficult to cultivate their land. Transit permits are only issued to those who can produce ownership documents for their caged-in land, and sometimes only to the head of the family or his widow, eldest son, and children. Sometimes the inheritors lose their right to tend to the family’s land. The permits are eked out and are re-issued only with difficulty. 55-year-old persons may cross the checkpoint (into Israel) without special permits. During the olive harvest season (about one month around October) the checkpoint is open daily and more transit permits are issued. Names of persons eligible to cross are held in the soldiers’ computers. In July 2007, a sweeping instruction was issued, stating that whoever does not return to the village through this checkpoint in the afternoon will be stripped of his transit permit when he shows up there next time. Since 2019, the checkpoint has not been allways locked with the seam-line zone gate (1 of 3 gates), and the fence around it has been broken in several sites.
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Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
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This checkpoint is located on the Separation Fence route, east of the Palestinian town of East Barta’a. The latter is the largest Palestinian community inside the seam-line zone (Barta’a Enclave) in the northern West Bank. Western Barta’a, inside Israel, is adjacent to it. The Checkpoint is open all week from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Since mid-May 2007, the checkpoint has been managed by a civilian security company subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. People permitted to cross through this checkpoint into and from the West Bank are residents of Palestinian communities inside the Barta’a Enclave as well as West Bank Palestinian residents holding transit permit. Jewish settlers from Hermesh and Mevo Dotan cross here without inspection. A large, modern terminal is active here with 8 windows for document inspection and biometric tests (eyes and fingerprints). Usually only one or two of the 8 windows are in operation. Goods, up to medium commercial size, may pass here from the West Bank into the Barta’a Enclave. A permanent registered group of drives who have been approved by the may pass with farm produce. When the administration of the checkpoint was turned over to a civilian security firm, the Ya’abad-Mevo Dotan Junction became a permanent checkpoint. . It is manned by soldiers who sit in the watchtower and come down at random to inspect vehicles and passengers (February 2020).
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Tayba-Rummana
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Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence. The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530). (February 2020).
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