Tayibe Rumanneh checkpoint: No one tells me what to do
North, 24.7.19, morning
06:00 Barta’a checkpoint : Why do you keep expanding and upgrading such a large checkpoint while allowing fewer and fewer people to cross?
It was obvious to us this morning that more people (who’d already gone through the checkpoint) were waiting for transportation to work than had been the case on other recent mornings. But their numbers were still not such as to indicate that Palestinians could again cross here to work in Israel. Many more would return home from work through this checkpoint.
When we arrived at our “position” at the entrance to the crossing facility a small, 60-year old woman rushed toward us, one of the seamstresses from the workshops in western Barta’a (where once, long ago, we saw bedclothes being made for London’s Marks and Spencer!). Her name is Rahmat, she’s from Yabed, and says she’s worked here 17 years (the contractor who hired her holds her crossing permit). Today she was suddenly sent home without being told why. Sa’id, a 26 year old young man, also approached us. His shoes, spotted with cement, suggested he was a construction worker in Harish. He has a crossing permit for Barta’a and a permit to work in Israel, both valid, and he also was stopped today. We tried to understand what happened. They were stopped at the biometric device and when they went through they continued to the right while the others turned left. That’s the reason, they said. “Because we turned right, not left with the others.” Someone in the checkpoint administration, who didn’t give her name, said she knows who we’re referring to, that woman knows why she was sent home. That woman insisted on repeating her story to us again and again. With the help of translators whose Hebrew was better than my Arabic, we learned that today wasn’t the first time. One day last week she’d crossed as usual and then wasn’t allowed through for two consecutive days. And it’s always related somehow to the fact she turns right. And why, we asked, do you turn right, not left with the others? But we didn’t understand the reply, nor did those helping to translate. The person from the checkpoint administration wouldn’t tell us why they were sent home. Is it because the occupation benefits from the fact “they” can’t know the reasons? We wrote down the information and will try to understand the riddle, and perhaps help.
06:30 A’anin agricultural checkpoint
A slight delay opening the checkpoint allowed us to observe the crossing from the beginning. Few crossed on foot; there were two tractors. One of the Palestinians whose been crossing here for a long time – he seems to be at least 55 – works as a gardener. He’s paid NIS 250/day, and pays NIS 60 for transportation. He takes home NIS 190-200/day, and thanks God for them.
07:00 Tayibe/Rumanneh agricultural checkpoint
Only a few people crossing on foot here also, and one red tractor owned by Abu Ali who always screeches to a stop very near us to ask “how are you” and continues on his way, satisfied by our reply. We met a new face at the checkpoint, someone crossing here for the first time, angry because he was told to come back through here in the afternoon. We explained the danger to him, but he insisted. No one tells me what to do, I’m not coming back through here, no way.
'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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Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
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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).
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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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