Maoz Zvi settlers: expelled Palestinians in the middle of the harvest

Place:

'Anin

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Seam Zone

Observers:

Tami R. and Ruthie T., Reporting Marcia L., Translation

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Oct-13-2022

Afternoon

15:00 – 15:30 – Anin Checkpoint

We hadn’t yet read Neta’s report and since we passed by the place anyway, we entered to see if maybe the checkpoint was open for the start of the olive harvest. A male and female soldier from the Homefront Command guarded the area since the day before yesterday. They say the checkpoint is not open at all this week because of the serious (security) situation. Next to the checkpoint, in the Seamline Zone, a deserted tractor was parked and a few steps from there, a pile of garbage that we have already reported on. Our hope is that despite this, the checkpoint will open at the time appointed for the olive harvest.

15:50 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

A group of men wait for their brother, who has been stuck at the checkpoint for more than an hour. He is delayed every time by some police who prohibit him (from passing through), but usually, he is released. The brothers say, “It depends on the soldier’s culture.” In the end, they despaired and requested that if he arrives, to please bring him to Umm Reihan. “We stayed there 20 minutes, and the brother was still not released. A female soldier demanded that we stay away from the gate. Relative to this checkpoint, the traffic was lively in both directions.

On the way to Barta’a Checkpoint, we detoured in the direction of the industrial zone that is situated next to the settlement of Reihan. At the edge of the area, opposite breathtaking scenery, a lone settler lives in Nofe Reihan Farm (Scenic Reihan Farm). It is difficult to know if he lives there permanently because the area seems neglected. Ragged Israeli flags wave in the wind, but the certified authorities provide water and electricity.

16:40 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

We pass by the checkpoint. Many workers walk down the sleeve info-icon (the enclosed, roofed passage to the terminal). We follow the development of the closed parking lots at the foot of the village of Zabde.

16:50 – Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint

There is lively traffic of transportation vehicles returning workers from the checkpoint to the West Bank. The pillbox is staffed. An army vehicle stops next to us. Two officers—one of them from Mevo Dotan—felt like arguing with two women (us) “who (in their words) hate their nation.” We politely refused because it was a waste of time.

On our return, we stopped opposite the road that goes up to Maoz Zvi settlement to meet Anwar, who returned from work in Haifa. He impressed us with his statement, “The settlers behave hard, hard, hard, and at 4 o’clock they throw us out of the area.”

On Friday (the day after our observation) Anwar went up with three workers to the area of the olive harvest, which, according to him, belongs to his family and is registered in tabu. At 15:45, a soldier and an officer arrived with two settlers from Maoz Zvi (he recognized their faces but did not know their names) and threatening them, threw them out. Two young boys who worked with Anwar ran away in fear and he had to leave 20 sacks filled with olives in the area. It was very nice of the settlers to permit Anwar to take his personal bag with his identity card and his telephone. This morning, Shabbat, Anwar discovered that all his sacks of olives disappeared, as expected. Since last night others have been involved in the story and have tried to help, at least with good advice, and today we achieved a promise from the police from Mevo Dotan, that after Shabbat, he will begin to clarify (what happened) . . .

Location Description

Anin agricultural checkpoint

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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, for periods of time that are growing shorter Lith time. It is meant for Anin farmers whose olive groves have been separated from the village by the fence. 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. At times 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 every day 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 according to which 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 info-icon ), and the fence around it has been broken in several sites.

Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

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This is a fabric of life* checkpoint through which pedestrians, cabs and private cars (since 2008) pass to and from the West Bank and the Seam-line Zone to and from the industrical zone near the settler-colony Shaked, schools and kindergartens, and Jenin university campuses. The checkpoint is located between Tura village inside the West Bank and the village of Dahar Al Malah inside the enclave of the Seam-line Zone. It is opened twice a day, between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., and from 12 noon to 7 p.m. People crossing it (at times even kindergarten children) are inspected in a bungalow with a magnometer. Names of those allowed to cross it appear in a list held by the soldiers. Usually traffic here is scant.

fabric of life roads and checkpoints, as defined by the Terminals Authority in the Ministry of Defense (fabric of life is a laundered name that does not actually describe any kind of humanitarian purpose) are intended for Palestinians only. These roads and checkpoints have been built on lands appropriated from their Palestinian owners, including tunnels, bypass roads, and tracks passing under bridges. Thus traffic can flow between the West Bank and its separated parts that are not in any kind of territorial contiguity with it. Mostly there are no permanent checkpoint on these roads but rather ‘flying’ checkpoints, check-posts or surprise barriers. At Toura, a small (less than one dunam) and sleepy checkpoint has been established, which has filled up with the years with nearly .every means of supervision and surveillance that the Israeli military occupation has produced. (February 2020)

Mar-22-2022

Ruti Tuval

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint

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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).

Ya’abad-Dotan

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This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)