'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
06.00.Baarta’a-Reihan checkpoint.
Active movement, without apparent delays, of workers from the West Bank towards the seamline zone, mostly to work in Harish. Perfect order in the parking lot.
06.30. Aanin checkpoint.
The gate of the security[?] road is open, apparently for the benefit of military vehicles travelling it quickly and conveniently. This lets us enter the checkpoint area and photograph the wonderful scenery, as it looks in the morning. The soldiers arrived three minutes later, and wait for the D.C.O. officer who arrives at 6.35.
At 6.40 The Aanin pass opens and farmers come from the lower gate close to the village which we cannot see. They approach the soldiers in groups of five. The soldiers check their tools. An old acquaintance tells us that in the afternoon he is allowed to harvest olives next to the security road.
From afar we watch a white-haired man surrounded by five soldiers, and it seems they are not letting him through. He gathers from the ground the contents of his bag. We approach, trying to find out what is happening. The soldiers shout to us that he has drugs. When we want to see this with our own eyes, they change their report and say there are a few packages of cigarettes which are not allowed. We advise them to use their judgement and let an old man earn a few shekels for his family. No use. He returns to his village and the officer demands that we stop photographing and that we show him the photographs we have already taken. We refuse. At our request, Shuli sends us the military permission to photograph a t checkpoints, and the soldier looks at this and relents.
At 7.15 the gates
close. Altogether over 100 people passed, and not one tractor (the olive harvest season has not yet ended officially).
07.20. Tura-Shaked checkpoint.
We are told that it opened at 7. “Really? Have they stopped opening at 6.30?” “Yes. They didn’t feel like opening at 6.30. Next week they’ll open at 8. “’Cos it’s winter and cold.” Cynical checkpoint humour.
At 7.30 groups of schoolchildren arrive, on foot, on the narrow road from the direction of Daher el Malec to the school in Tura, on the “Palestinian” side of the checkpoint. They pass the checkpoint calmly as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.