'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana
Barta’a Checkpoint 5:50 a.m.
We go around the new crossing post, a sophisticated corral shiny with newly engineered metal bars all around, and it feels terrible. Who is it that made a fortune of occupation money by building this?
An easygoing young man approaches us. He has a story to tell. Two days ago he was released from a month’s detention for being in Israel illegally, got a suspended sentence of two-years in prison and a black spot next to his name on any Israeli authorities’ computer. He has a permit for the Barta’a checkpoint valid for a year but that black spot… How black it is indeed. He has five children (I must have misheard him, he seems too young for that) and must find a source of livelihood. Sadly we told him this was too early to solve, but still gave him a note with Sylvia’s team numbers to seek help.
Neta: Just imagine they were us and we were them…
Shuli: We wouldn’t last a single day…
A young man disembarks from his transport, runs hurriedly to the surprisingly short waiting line and mutters to us: we must have another track, must…
‘Aneen Checkpoint 6:30 a.m.
Al ein basira wil id qasira – Arabic for “the eye look and the hand too short to help”
At the checkpoints we see the visible side of the occupation, with all of its hammers. The violence, the bureaucracy, the indifference and alienation. At times a man approaches and discloses to us an invisible piece of his life and it contains pain. Sorrow. Despair. A young man, over 30-years old, looks at us, hesitates and finally approaches. In Israeli Hebrew he draws open a curtain: married to an Arabic citizen of Israel from Umm Al Fahm. They have two children. He is from the Palestinian village of Roumana east of her town. She lives up in the west, inside Israel. The three of us are obviously aware of the fact that they do see each other often, but when he stays overnight with his family he jeopardizes both himself and them. She come over to him and even stays a while, over the weekend, but only for a visit. Neither of them wish for her to lose her Israeli rights, hers and her children’s – so precious for them all. At the same time he longs for family unification. He was told that a good lawyer could… But there’s no money. “I want my children to grow up with me. I want to be with them as they grow up.” We carefully told him that his chances at family unification are very slight. He said “I know” and left… Perhaps he just wanted to tell us his story. Perhaps he was hoping for advice. We followed him with our eyes, helplessly.
Tayibe-Roumana Checkpoint 7:30 a.m.
The air is wonderful. Clear. Cool. It had been drizzling. The near and far landscape is still fresh and green with some gentle purple and pink wildflowers. Hills and vales. On the hilltops large houses probably overlooking the amazing view of the Jezreel Valley or whatever lies between here and Jenin. Quiet. And there’s the checkpoint. And soldiers. Who – let’s face it – are occupation hammers as well. This morning few people cross (except for one). Amidst the barbed wire fences. Hey you! Go back! One at a time!!
'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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