Anin checkpoint: The soldiers leave before the end of the shift
Eastern Barta’a Junction – 6 a.m.
Today we saw considerably less activity that which has been witnessed here in recent months around the holes in the Separation Fence. We did not see buses, only vans that came to pick up workers for their jobs. Still, pedestrians may be less but they still hurry to the holes. Surprisingly, W. crossed Barta’a Checkpoint today. He is fed up with the games played by the soldiers. They would appear on the jeep next to the holes in the fence, stop people from crossing there, then disappear and people resume their crossing. And time and again the threat would appear and then disappear.
Is this top-to-bottom policy? Or the initiative of junior officers on the ground? What’s the sense?
Agricultural Checkpoint Anin (214) 6:30 a.m.
We arrived a bit early and took a ride down the steep slope in the olive tree grove next to the checkpoint, until our car got stuck on a small tock. Until M. came and freed us and our shame (Neta is not at fault here), the short minutes of checkpoint crossing were over. The checkpoint was supposed to be open for 15 minutes, but apparently the Military policemen do not wait until their shift is over. This is the complaint we keep hearing lately, that they let only those are at the very minute present at the checkpoint, and then lock up and leave.
We met several Anin villagers who were forced to cross the hole in the fence after calling after the soldiers to open the gate for them – in vain. Since their crossing was not registered, they feared returning through the checkpoints and came home through the same hole. We called two military sources and received the official opening times – but these are not consistent. The Palestinian DCO is not functioning and the Palestinians have no way of finding out opening times, and worse – there is no one to help them renew permits and the olive harvest season is around the corner.
Agricultural checkpoint Tayibe-Roumana (154) – 7 a.m.
This morning only Ali M. came to the checkpoint, driving his red tractor. When two of the soldiers came to open the gate, we tried to inquire why they did not let people cross at the Anin Checkpoint. One of the answered sourly: “You do your job and we’ll do ours…”
'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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East Barta'a Junction
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East Barta'a Junction
The main station at the eastern Barta'a junction (Roads 611/6115).
A junction without special activities became about April 2020 a bustling center of transportation to workplaces in Israel, following the free passage through loopholes in the nearby separation fence.
Palestinian workers from all over the West Bank gather here every morning, without transit permits and often without masks. The army is turning a blind eye and the occupation is losing control.
There is also no shortage of coffee and pastry stalls.
Hagar DrorSep-26-2023Barta'a: rapid construction of the separation fence
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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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