The northern barriers are closed: there is no way to pick the olives
For several weeks I have been inquiring occasionally with the Salem DCO when olive growers in the north will cross and harvest their olive groves in the Seam Zone. The answer I get is “probably next week”. A whole month has gone by and no permit on the horizon. Thiד morning Palestinians came to the Tayibe-Rumana Agricultural Checkpoint 154 (these are two small villages in the West Bank just below the town of Umm Al Fahm in Israel proper), after being notified that their checkpoint would be opened today and only for three days. As far as we know, only 2-3 villagers of Tayibe-Rumana tend a few dunams of olive groves, in the small Seam Zone. They came at 6:30 a.m., crossed the usual checkpoint gate fixed in the huge wall erected there half a year ago, and were immediately sent home. There are no nationalist colonies nor crazy messianic outposts in the northern West Bank. It is the Civil Administration that does that work here. Quietly and consistently.
At Anin village, too, holders of transit permits are not being allowed to cross over from the West Bank to Eastern Barta’a, Except for the security guards, colonists standing there at all hours of the day also stop the crossings. Palestinians say they are from the Hermesh colony. So what will those who have work in Eastern Barta’a do if they cannot get there? Economic distress increases from day to day. Still, they cross the wall at night by climbing ladders. Not everyone manages that. About a month ago, a 30-years-old man from Anin was shot and killed by soldier fire when caught on a ladder
'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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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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