‘Anin, Mevo Dotan (Imriha), Reihan, Shaked, Thu 27.5.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
We saw only happy Palestinians at all the checkpoints*
A’anin checkpoint 06:10
Fifteen minutes after the checkpoint was supposed to open, people begin crossing from A’anin to the seam line.. Taymor, from the DCO, in a white Sufa jeep, updates Yosef, his replacement.
Today people are gathered at the lower part of the checkpoint so we can’t see how many are waiting. We know there aren’t more than 20, and see that today the inspections are rigorous, asking questions, checking with the magnemometer, making them "dance" (Lift up the shirt. Turning around(. The Palestinian men greet us with a “good morning,” as usual, “what’s new,” “maybe you’ve brought clothing – no? OK, next time.” The women giggle and the children are shy. Large raindrops fall like tears from the sky on us all.
Whoever goes through the A’anin checkpoint can continue to Tel Aviv without hindrance. So why do we need the checkpoint there?
Shaked checkpoint 07:00
All the regulars at this hour are already waiting for the start of the morning ritual. On the seam line side the banker is waiting in his car, the school principal in his car, younger and older pupil and a few other vehicles. About 20 laborers wait on the other side near the turnstile, along with an obedient herd of goats and some vehicles. The older pupils don’t have schoolbags – final exams are underway, and soon vacation. Whoever goes through the Shaked checkpoint can continue to Tel Aviv without hindrance. So why do we need the checkpoint there?
Mavo Dothan checkpoint 07:35
Soldiers who never heard of us go to check and come back. An armed soldier point his weapon in our general direction.
Heavy traffic toward Ya’abed and Jenin, and back to the Reichan checkpoint. If a soldier stops a car for inspection (randomly) a line of many cars immediately forms in both directions.
On the basis of the cars coming now from Jenin, businessmen who are doing well are on their way to Barta’a. In Barta’a they’re complaining that the locals aren’t benefiting from the town’s flourishing market because most of the shop owners are from Ya’abed or from Jenin.
Reichan checkpoint 08:15
The parking lot is packed as usual with the vehicles of people crossing to Barta’a. Many new municipal jeeps. An elderly man who looks depressed, the owner of a business making charcoal that’s been enclosed within the area of the seam line, asks for help. He wants to sleep at his business. It’s his place, and he can’t leave it unsupervised. He can’t get a permit to sleep in the area of the seam line, even though everyone agrees that it’s Palestinian land.
A nice, 32 year old man, well-dressed, recounts his sad story. He once worked in Israel painting houses as a warehouseman for Cellcom. Earned NIS 300 a day, married and had two children (there wasn’t enough money for any more). Suddenly he was notified that he’s forbidden entry to Israel. But he was allowed to enter the eastern side of Barta’a with a special note in his permit, “despite the prohibition.” He worked in Barta’a, earned less, but was working. Now he’s not even allowed into Barta’a. Now he’s imprisoned on the eastern side of the separation fence, drives someone else’s car, earns almost nothing. The Palestinian enclosure that was created is off-limits to him, perhaps because once, years ago, he refused to be a collaborator. He says: If my son is sick I wait a few days before I bring him to the doctor, maybe in the meantime he’ll get better. We eat only basic foodstuffs, we don’t enjoy anything. What are you doing about it, he asks, pointing to our badges, about human rights? In practical terms, that is. We only stammered in reply.
Meanwhile, A’atef showed up and offered us an aishtanur pita his wife had baked, and olive oil. He forgot the za’atar.
We are tied to people here by heavy bonds of sadness.
*Happy to have received crossing permits
'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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Tura-Shaked
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Tura-Shaked
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-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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Ya'bed-Dotan
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Ya’bed-Dotan
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)
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