There’s nothing joyous about occupation

This morning M. called, a farmer from Aneen village in the West Bank. He wanted to inform us that he had passed with his tractor into the seam zone. The Israeli army got hold of keys to the lock of the checkpoint gate, and moreover – this time the soldiers did not forget to bring them along this morning… Finally. We both thanked the Almighty in fluent Arabic and figured that our joy was temporary. There’s nothing joyous about occupation.

The Aneen agricultural checkpoint has three gates. One is no longer locked, on the seam zone side, beside which we stand monitoring, and meeting people (there were 30 adults and youngsters and very women on good days). One is at the middle of the checkpoint. It is a heavy yellow metal sliding gate, locked with a key (not always…) which is opened by the soldiers, and another on the side of the village which we do not see. This too is no longer locked.

The opened gates seemed to us at first quite a bit of news worthy of being reported. It looked like a security breach that enables free access from the West Bank to the security strip and the Separation Barrier, that had cost Israeli citizens millions, and assured hermetic closure against terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv. One of the larger holes was opened at the Aneen checkpoint, rather adjacent to the central yellow gate. Not only can pedestrians get through to the seam zone (and from there freely into Israel), but also father and mother, brother and sister, bridegroom and bride in a fancy carriage (paraphrasing a popular Hebrew children’s  poem) and especially, tractors! So large is the opening.

Well, says the occupation – go on, cross it whenever you please. You don’t need us…

The Palestinian residents of this area, since realizing this is no ‘loyalty’ check that would cost them dearly (we were told this by A., a veteran holes-in-fence expert), they began crossing there easily at all hours of the day and night. For any need.

Everyone’s happy. The army is indifferent.

Among the passers at Aneen Checkpoint there are at least two farmers with tractors wishing to cross over to their olive groves through the central gate, and if it won’t open they return home. For the past month, (8 subsequent times) they were blocked by the official crossing point. Once they brought boulders and concrete slabs (with heavy equipment, workers and work hours) and their tractors were blocked on the road leading up to the central gate. When the concrete slabs were taken off (bulldozers, workers, work hours), dirt mounds were heaped around the hole (bulldozers, workers, work hours) and deep ditches were dug. And still at the same time, the soldiers didn’t always show up to open the central gate, or were hours late.

About two weeks ago the locks on the two agricultural checkpoints were changed, but the soldiers did not have the keys. The writing underneath the photo says: Cross by foot. No tractors.

Throughout this saga, of course, we were in phone contact with the regional DCO in Salem (there is a very courteous woman-soldier there), but their looking into it with the regional division provided no certain answers. Will they get keys? Open the gate? Come? This morning, as written above, they did.