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'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan

Observers: Zafrira Zamir, Neta Golan (reporting). Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham
Jul-22-2020
| Afternoon

14:50 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint

Soldiers were resting the watchtower’s steps, but their friends were positioned down below.  The little traffic that had arrived was not delayed.  A truck and car crossed to the West Bank.  Two men and a woman crossed to the seamline zone. 

15:10 – A’anin Checkpoint

A woman, five men, two teenage boys, as well as a tractor loaded with junk were waiting to cross to their village.  Two soldiers with nothing to do were passing the time in the shed between the two fences, as they have been doing since the COVID-19 epidemic began. The military police arrived on time and after a bit they opened the gates and everyone crossed.

15:40 – We drove past the Reihan – Barta’a checkpoint

The Palestinian parking lots and the spaces along the side of the road were full.  Three trucks were parked in the parking area near the vehicle checkpoint.  One of them was carrying olive saplings.  

We stopped near our friend F.’s grocery store, along the road that crosses the village of Emricha.  We told her that we hadn’t seen her for a long time because of the coronavirus, and she said that there was no coronavirus in Emricha.  F. tends a flowering garden in front of her store.  We sat on the shaded terrace and ate Palestinian ice cones for NIS 4 apiece.  F. is already preparing for the approaching holiday of Eid al Adha, which will take place in another 10 days, and will go on for four days.  She also observes the fast on the day before the holiday.    

16:10 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint

There was a long convoy of cars going to Yaabed and Jenin.  People were coming home from work. No one was being checked at the checkpoint, but the concrete blocks slowed the cars down.

16:20 – On our way back to the seamline zone and Israel we passed Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint again.  Many people were coming home from work. We did not enter the crowded parking lot, as we have been avoiding it during the epidemic.  On our way back we ran into a long line of vehicles that had been dropping people off on their way home from work.

  • '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.

  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
  • 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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