‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana
At Tayibe-Roumana Checkpoint:
K.: Today’s good. The soldiers are good. The Border Policemen are not good. Only these soldiers are good.
We: How can you say about the occupation soldiers that they’re “good”?
K.: It’s like if I steal your jeep? And now I say to you, come here, I’ll give you a ride… Am I good or not?
05:45 Regional Checkpoint at Barta’a, open every day (photo: Shuli)
a teargas grenade supervises the waiting line that is in perfect order.
turnstile. From here they will proceed to work at the sewing workshops
in Eastern Barta’a.
On the seam-line zone side, hundreds of Palestinians who have already crossed the checkpoint are waiting for rides to work. Most of them are employed in constructing the new Israeli town of Harish. The waiting line at the Palestinian car park shrinks and grows according to the crowding inside the terminal.
A heavily-built security guard roams idly near the line waiting to cross the turnstile. Some of us see the armed (club, shackles, teargas grenade) Palestinian security guard a great success – finally the line is quiet, no rackets. We see this very differently. His presence is collaboration with the occupation. It is outrageous that the local inhabitants must pay for this service and we wonder where the money really goes. Some think it reaches private pockets.
A new coffee vendor rides around on an electrical scooter equipped with everything needed for a mobile coffee stand. It takes him one hour to get from his home to the checkpoint.
06:30 Farmers’ checkpoint Anin (214), opens twice a week (photo: Karine)
the background.
The checkpoint opens on time. Passage is slow. About 70 people have crossed. A number of women arriving with older children were turned back. According to occupation regulations, children of age 14-16 can no longer cross the checkpoint automatically just because they are registered in their parents’ ID. So how will they cross? They will not. Other women with younger children crossed unhampered, including a grandfather with his little grandson. The grandson, naturally, is not registered in his grandfather’s ID but still passed. Old Shafiq crossed on foot. His she-donkey has died and has not yet been replaced.
A Military Policeman comes to ask us why we are against the checkpoints. Our answer did not affect his own opinion (“It’s a pity that you think this way”.)
08:00 Farmers’ checkpoint Tayibe-Roumana (154), opens twice a week
The Palestinians eagerly praise the soldiers and distinguish them from the Border Policemen. The former are good, the latter – are not. They are late in opening the checkpoint and their treatment is not good. Here too, not all women and children were let through. We were asked by people to arrange passage permits through Barta’a, like the ones issued Anin inhabitants. They were surprised to hear that we were not responsible for this.
08:30 Everyone got through and the checkpoint was locked.
'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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