Aanin checkpoint: A soldier uses violence on Rachel
16.50 – 15.00
Barta’a Checkpoint, 15:00
Things were being conducted as usual. Busses from the “Yonat Hashalom” company and other transport vehicles belonging to contractors were bringing Palestinian workers from their jobs in Israel. Taxis were taking passengers to Jenin through the vehicle checkpoint, but most workers walked down the sleeve to the entrance to the terminal and to the lower parking lot in Area C. Women workers were returning to the West Bank with shopping bags from the market in Barta’a, and young people from the West Bank were crossing to get to their jobs in the afternoon shift. By 15:30 more people arrived who were returning to the West Bank and the parking lot at Zibda was partially full.
A’anin Agricultural Checkpoint, 15:45
People don’t always know when the checkpoint will open, but today the checkpoint was already open and two tractors had already returned to the village carrying passengers and olives. Next to the first entrance gate to the checkpoint there were crowds of people and shouting. There were cars at the checkpoint and more men and women soldiers than usual. The entrance gate was alternately opened and closed noisily allowing military vehicles to enter, and tractors and olive harvesters were then unable to cross and had to wait. There was a rumor that people who had entered Israel illegally had been caught and were being detained in the shed.
We approached the entrance gate and saw that the commander was behaving rudely and shouting at the workers who were waiting. We continued to approach in order to see and hear what was going on. One of the soldiers deliberately slammed the gate closed and knocked Rachel down. One of the workers told us that last Thursday the checkpoint was closed very early under the direction of the same commander, and people and tractors had not yet crossed. They were forced to wait until 20:00 when the mayor of the A’anin Regional Council arrived and the checkpoint was reopened. They still don’t know whether the agricultural checkpoint will open tomorrow, which is election day in Israel.
At 16:05 most of the women returning from the olive harvest were permitted to cross. There were still 8 tractors loaded with olives and about 15o men and women who had not yet crossed. They asked us to intervene, as if we had any influence. At 16:15 people began to cross slowly. As we had seen last week, one of the people collected everyone’s ID cards and called people one by one while the soldiers supervised alongside. Another soldier checked people’s ID cards and bags next to the exit gate.
A bus arrived and about 30 blindfolded detainees were taken away.
By 16:45 everyone had crossed except for two detainees, who were allowed to cross after things were clarified with a lot of shouting. Only one tractor was left and they were waiting to clarify things with the District Coordination and Liaison Office to decide what to do. Despite the fact that we have observed what goes on at this checkpoint each week for many years, we were shocked at the harassment and ill treatment that people received from the soldiers today.
'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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