Northern Checkpoints: A’anin Checkpoint was closed yesterday and today.
05:50 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint
Many workers were waiting for their rides to work on the side of the road on the seamline zone side of the checkpoint. We crossed to the Palestinian side where the parking lot was practically empty. Workers were arriving at the new shed by car and on foot and entering the terminal that is on the other side of the security road. People were entering constantly but it was not crowded and there was no waiting line. A young man parked a red motor scooter by the side of the shed, and others unrolled prayer rugs that were soaking wet from the rain that had fallen during the night. One of the drivers translated the request of a man who had suddenly been prevented from entering Israel. We gave him a card with Sylvia’s phone number. The driver has twelve children – nine suns and three daughters – and we gave him twelve bags of used clothing that we had brought. By the time we went back up to the seamline zone side there were already fewer workers waiting for rides.
06:25 – A’anin Checkpoint
We arrived five minutes before opening time but the checkpoint was not open yet. The weather in A’anin was pleasant and warm, the crocuses were in bloom, and a wagtail perched on the barbed wire fence. We heard the voices of the Palestinians waiting from across the three fences. At 06:45 we called the Liaison and Coordination Office and were told that the checkpoint would not open by request of the Palestinian contacts and that people should not wait. I reported that yesterday I was told that the checkpoint would not open but that it would open today. The Palestinian contact should take responsibility for announcing to people that the checkpoint would not open today. I called M. and told him that the checkpoint would not open and that they should call the Palestinian contact. When we arrived at Tura Checkpoint M. called back and asked what would happen tomorrow, Friday, and I told him to call the Palestinian contact to find out.
06:50 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
People were already walking to work in the seamline zone and a few cars were also crossing. A person told us that today everything was “going well” and that there was a soldier in the inspection booth who was “really OK” who was letting people through quickly. Even one soldier cannot change the occupation, but can change people’s attitudes. It’s a shame that the area around the checkpoint is so dirty. We didn’t wait for the schoolchildren to cross, but drove to the Shahak Industrial zone in the seamline zone.
07:20 – Shahak Industrial Zone
(Translator’s note: Shahak is a Hebrew acronym for shin, het, and kof –the first letters of Shaked, Hinanit, and Katzir – the two settlements in the area plus one that is within the green line Katsir. We don’t understand why Katzir has been included the two settlements that are in the seamline zone.
There was a guard at the gate who did not stop us, and there was an attractive sign with directions to the various factories in the industrial area. We drove around the well-tended industrial park until we reached “Tiretech” – the factory for recycling tires. People had previously complained about the noise emitted from the factory. (See report from 24.10.2018). All was clean and quiet. There were cars with Israeli and Palestinian license plates in the parking lot. Tami remarked that a shared working place could be extremely pleasant after the occupation ends.
07:40 – When we left an unpleasant person stopped us and told us that we should leave and that we had no business in the industrial zone.
'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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