Corona time, Anin: bureaucracy of the occupation tested for solidarity
1) Report from Anin village
M. sends me a photo of his home on the top of the hill, and of his son spraying the weeds growing among the olive trees near his home. And what happens with the olive groves across the Separation Fence? I ask. According to him, his village council lodged an urgent appeal to the DCO at Salem, requesting that tractor owners be allowed to cross the agricultural checkpoint closed on account of the Corona-virus spread, because the weeds are spreading too and if not stopped now, it will be so much harder to do once the ground dries up, in the summer.
Will the Corona pandemic soften the occupation’s bureaucracy in such days of hardship for us all?
2) Report from Zabda village
W. was glad to report that today he was allowed to cross over to work in Eastern Barta’a, and he is neither a physician nor a high-ranking official… I don’t inquire how and why, and am glad to partake in his satisfaction. According to him, at the entrance to every village in the area the Palestinian Authority has erected 2-3 checkpoints, vehicles are made to park over to the side and uniformed police stop them. He sends me a photo of his mother and her grandchildren sitting on a sunny afternoon at the entrance of the building where the extended family resides.
ו’ מזבדה שמח לבשר שהיום אפשרו לו לעבור לעבודה בברטעה המזרחית, והוא לא רופא ולא פקיד בכיר…
לדבריו ליד כל כפר וכפר באזור יש 2-3 מחסומים פלסטינים, רכב חונה בצד ושוטרים במדים עוצרים את המכוניות.
ג’נין, רחוב דין אל קסאם שומם מאנשים ומכוניות זבדה, מפגש סבתא ונכדים של משפחת ע’ במורחבת, אתמול אחה”צ
'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.
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