Northern checkpoints - Explain the occupation to the tourist
15:00 – 16:30
This time we had a completely different observation. We tried to show Shelly the northern sector with the hope that the message will pass on to those in America who demand the best from Israel.
Shelly is a retired ophthalmologist and in addition to belonging to a Reform Synagogue in New York, she is a member of an organization of women called Salaam-Shalom–“Peace”– together with 1,000 Jewish and Moslem women from across the United States. They have 150 branches that hold meetings to build bridges and understanding of “the other.” Shelly came to Israel for a month with a group that is studying the fabric of life in Israel.
She is very curious and believes it is necessary to describe and disseminate the present reality in Israel that unfortunately, doesn’t reach the Diaspora. So far in her visit to Israel, she has been in Hebron and at the Bethlehem Checkpoint. Now we are showing her the following:
The Northern Checkpoints
These are large, expensive buildings where Palestinians who have permits indeed cross over. Primarily, however, vehicles cross at these checkpoints because surrounding the area of the checkpoints, there are breaches in the (security) fence that serve the Palestinians (pedestrians) more efficiently. All those who want to can cross to work in Israel via these breaches and bring home a living wage. The military is aware of this but doesn’t bother to fix or change the situation. As always, the thought occurs to us that the checkpoints don’t exist for the purpose of guarding Israel’s security. They exist because it is worthwhile to control and harass Palestinians.
Daily Life for Palestinians in the Seamline Zone
Three Palestinian villages exist in the area that, in fact, were annexed to Israel and controlled by the army (traffic, building permits, etc.) while the Palestinian Authority, which is responsible for granting identity cars, managing hospitals and schools, is situated in Jenin, passed the checkpoints. In order to shop, the Palestinian residents have to cross the checkpoints during the limited hours they are open. Additionally, the scope of the items they are allowed to bring back home without the permission of the DCO is also limited. Likewise, scattered within the Seamline Zone are olive groves that belong to the residents of Anin (beyond the security fence, in the West Bank). They are allowed to cross the checkpoints only twice a week to care for their groves, because the agricultural checkpoint is only open at sporadic hours, and then only for half an hour in the mornings and afternoons. Today, except for the tractors, pedestrians cross via the breaches in the fence.
Around the villages: Four settlements are expanding, which obviously, is legal under Israeli law.
Apparently, this is the picture of apartheid in its formation.
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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