‘Atil, Deir al-Ghusun
The road curves among hills and rocks… On the left and right are fruit trees and flowering fields. We travel to two checkpoints, which, if they hadn’t existed, one could enjoy the pastoral atmosphere around us.
12:30 Atil No. 609
Just one person is waiting for the opening of the CP, but on the other side there’s a large group of tractors. On our right is the villages of Ivth’an which belongs to the local council of Zemer.
12:45 – the military jeep arrives on time and the gate is opened.
5 tractors come out. About 60 persons wait. The passage is very quick as on their way back from their plots the Palestinians don’t undergo checking.
Our friend G. comes out as well. He tells us about an annoying problem. Whenever some problem arises on a Friday, the Palestinians have nobody to talk to at the Palestinian DCO, and when there is a problem on a Saturday there is nobody to talk to at the Israeli DCO.
Problems crop up but there is nobody to solve them. I shall consult with the people of the Human Rights Center (does anybody have an idea to whom one should turn?)
Dir El A’uson – Gate number 623
13:20 The gate is still shut. The military jeep drives on the system road from Atil and arrives on time, so that the gate is opened at 13:30. One tractor enters and five come out. About 20 persons went out.
I tried to contact S. from Far’un but he didn’t reply and we didn’t meet. Later he called me and reported: On Monday there was a good meeting with the representatives of the Center – the Palestinians with a prevention order and the representatives of the Palestinian Authority. They are planning a demonstration against the new Knesset decision, which allows Israel to rob lands. He will give me more details later.
'Atil (609)
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'Atil (609)
Agricultural checkpoint.
Scheduled to be open daily.
Time: N/A
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Deir al-Ghusun CP (623)
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Deir al-Ghusun CP (623) and 'Atil (609) Here these ‘gates’ agricultural checkpoints - are open all year round, 3 times a day, so the village farmers cross them to reach their 2,200 dunams that were separated by the Separation Fence and left in the seam-zone. the Fence itself grabbed 300 more dunams of their land. Depending on opening times, the area’s farmers use these checkpoints alternately. The Israeli army has threatened with the closure of these checkpoints as collective punishment if any breaks of the fence or climbing over it were detected. The main complaints of the Palestinians here are about not being issued sufficient permits for farmworkers in spite of the large farmlands behind the fence. We have documented several cases of miserable conduct: a fire broke out in one of the storage areas, but firefighters were not allowed to reach it in time. another example: During olive harvest for a few days it is open for all day, but at the same time, they placed concrete blocks against vehicles, prevent basic agricultural work.
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