Aanin checkpoint: That's it. closed down.

06:00- 08:00

Barta’a Checkpoint

The area of the upper parking lot is bursting with contractors’ shuttles and with people waiting for transportation to work.  On the pedestrian path going up from the terminal, called the sleeve (the enclosed passage to and from the terminal), are hundreds of workers who cross the terminal and join those waiting. Around 06:30, the crowding eases considerably.  There doesn’t seem to be tension in the conduct of the checkpoint.

A resident of Anin, who arrived at this checkpoint, tells us that last week an officer of the Liaison and Coordination Administration announced that Anin Checkpoint will be closed for passage and will only open twice a year, for harvesting and working with the olives.

Anin Checkpoint

Unlike other Wednesdays, when the checkpoint was always open, the checkpoint is closed.  Cars and trucks on the security road travel in two directions. Soldiers who are stationed there 24/7, said they were notified that the checkpoint would not be open today.  We phone our acquaintance, M, who tells us that he, with his tractor, and with many other people, stands on the opposite side of the monstrous wall and waits for the checkpoint’s opening.  Later, he told us that the agricultural checkpoint Tayibe-Rumana, which is next to Anin and to Umm-al-Fahm, was open for passage at 06:30 and closed immediately.

At about 09:00, it was finally clarified that Anin checkpoint would no longer be open, apparently, until the olive harvest.