Barta'a checkpoint is empty. Most Palestinians pass through holes in the fence
Barta’a checkpoint 6 a.m.
Usually at this time of day the checkpoint sees the height of activity. Crowds of workers come running from the terminal through the ‘sleeve’ to the many vehicles waiting to transport them to their workplaces. Even before we reached the checkpoint we would see the usual hubbub from afar – and realize that the crossing works these days and the workers cross without delay. We used to call them happy workers, for having work and permits…
Now it was a rather deserted checkpoint that greeted us – few people, few vehicles. At 6 a.m. this is totally unusual. It’s no longer a secret – dozens of workers from the West Bank have been entering Israel unhampered for months now, especially since the outbreak of the Corona crisis, through dozens or even hundreds of openings in the separation fence, from the northern West Bank all the way to the south. The Israeli army is aware of it, sees it, and does not respond. Even valid permit holders prefer not to ‘enjoy’ the checkpoint experience and shorten the process by a short walk including crossing the fence and the security road. The cabs wait for them on the other side exactly where they are needed.
Today we were told that people have begun to even pass wares such as vegetables and fruit through these openings, and it’s very good for very many people. It’s good for the contractor of Harish city (new town in Israel) – their labor force is not dwindling here, and Palestine has closure: so it’s good for Palestinians who wish to go to work in Israel in the morning and come back in the evening despite the lockdown, rather than stay overnight in all kinds of wholes in Israel, or get caught and be sent to quarantine; It’s good for whoever wishes to escape the ambushes of Palestinian policemen, and apparently it’s even good for the people working the checkpoints who remain idle.
Another new thing is seen at the upper car-park in Barta’a: the pedestrian crossing track (the ‘sleeve’) is now much longer and reaches the end of the upper car-park. One of the people in charge of the checkpoint explained: this was done in order to empty the main access road to the checkpoint of the chaos that reigned there every morning, and moves the traffic into the car-park itself.
Anyway, someone has benefitted richly from the endless checkpoint fences.
Roni observes the so much longer sleeve. In the past it only reached the further end at the bottom of the road. The she always walked used to be filled with cabs, other vehicles and workers. Now it’s empty.
Anin checkpoint 6:30 a.m.:
Few pedestrians crossed here this morning. All the others must have crossed through openings in the fence, of which we reported even prior to the present crisis.
Tayube-Roumana checkpoint 7 a.m.:
Beneath the (in Israel) town of Umm Al Fahm – as we arrived the few pedestrians present were crossing including the red tractor of our friend Ali from Tayibe. He stops, shakes our hands and says excitedly, thank you!! (he believes that the checkpoint was opened after a very long and irritating period thanks to the intervention of his friends of Machsomwatch.
We returned through the still sleepy towns of east and west Barta’a.
'Anin checkpoint (214)
See all reports for this place-
'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.
-
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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).
-
Tayba-Rummana
See all reports for this place-
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).
-