‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
06:06 A’anin checkpoint. 6 celsius degree. Sunrise at 06:38
The Palestinian village of A’anin is located about two km. southeast of Umm el Fahm (Arab-Israeli Town) in the Jenin(Palestinian city) sub-district. Various reports and surveys put its population at 3000-4000 people, about 530 households. The separation fence confiscated about 12,000 dunums of village land, about half of its agricultural land. On those lands are olive and almond groves; some of it is rocky.
A satellite photo of the village shows the fence and security road surrounding it from south to north. Highway 596 leads from the village center to the checkpoint where we have been observing and reporting since March, 2006. From its inception as an agricultural checkpoint it has consistently opened twice a week for the benefit (that is to say, to the disadvantage) of farmers separated from their lands, except for two months during the olive harvest (when it’s open daily). Limiting the farmers’ access to their land during most of the year is extremely damaging to their ability to make a living and to Palestinian traditions and one of the most serious and carefully planned injustices imposed by the Israeli occupation.
Permits valid here include: an agricultural permit issued on the basis of proof of land ownership in the seam zone; a work permit allowing someone to remain in the seam zone from the morning to the afternoon. Holders of these permits must return in the afternoon through this checkpoint or else the computer will flag them as being illegally in Israel, the permits will be rescinded and their holders will have to go through the entire procedure again to renew them – which, although they’ll know when it starts, they can’t know when it will be concluded.
There’s no barrier or military oversight between the fence and the entry to Israeli territory to prevent undesirable persons from entering Israel. So the fence doesn’t prevent a Palestinian terror attack in Tel Aviv. The IDF’s "sophisticated" response to the possible leakage of Palestinian terror into Tel Aviv through the A’anin checkpoint is the “outfit test.” Tattered clothes are trustworthy: they’re a sign the person is on his way to work, and he’ll go through. Being well-dressed is suspicious. This morning we again heard of a well-dressed young man from A’anin who was sent home because he was suspected of intending to do something illegal somewhere.
Tel Aviv may rest easy.
The soldiers opened the checkpoint 15 minutes late. Everyone who went through, without exception, from the youngest to Shafiq’s donkey, some more energetically, others less so, greeted us “Good morning” warmly, as usual.
06:55 Tura-Shaked checkpoint
The soldiers were late opening this checkpoint also. Cars and pedestrians began gathering on both sides. The first people crossed at 07:20. Everyone in the morning is hurrying to work or school. Because of the occupation’s restrictions many probably weren’t able to get here this morning either. Unlike at A’anin, people here weren’t particularly excited to see us.
07:20 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint
Nothing has priority over a suffering little child. When we were notified that Ali already awaited us (to go to Rambam hospital) we abandoned our shift at Tura and hurried to pick him up at the Barta’a checkpoint. It’s heartbreaking to see how he walks with difficulty, bent over, and to watch his devoted, exhausted parents. When we went through the inspection area the guard checked to see what Ali had under his coat. He discovered nothing suspicious. Haifa may rest easy.
'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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