Anin: After 20 years at the checkpoints, soldiers and Palestinians do not understand what we are doing there
14:20 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
There was little traffic and it was crossing without delay except for the concrete blocks in the road that forced drivers to stop. In front of the red sign warning people against entry into Area A there was a sign advertising apartments for sale in the settlement of Mevo Dotan.
14:40 – Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
There were many cars in the parking lot and the Palestinian attendants were walking around with nothing to do. There were a few workers returning from work and drivers were waiting for them. Three boys were selling coffee from a thermos.
15:00 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
A woman carrying a toddler crossed to the seamline zone followed by a yellow taxi that collected them. A young man crossed after them. The checkpoint was quiet and filthy as usual.
15:15 – A’anin Checkpoint
About 20 people and two tractors were waiting to cross from the seamline zone to their homes in A’anin across the separation barrier. A man told us that his sons have not received permits to cross and he is unable to work his land by himself. We gave him the phone number of the hotline for Protection of Individual Rights. Another man told us that his permit is about to expire in a months. Tomorrow he will go to the District Coordination and Liaison Office to ask for it to be renewed. He expected us to see that the permit was renewed immediately and asked why we come if we can’t do anything. The soldiers arrived on time and before they entered the area inside the checkpoint they came up to ask what we were doing there. They didn’t understand why we have come. Neither the soldiers nor the Palestinians understand what we are doing here, but we will continue to come. The soldiers opened the two locked gates of the checkpoint (recently the gate on the side of the seamline zone has been unlocked) and arranged the people in groups of six. For some reason their certificates are checked when they are on their way home.
At 15:30 we prepared to leave when an elderly man arrived who thought that it was only 15:00. The soldiers were still there and the elderly farmer was allowed to cross. – something that is not necessarily taken for granted.
'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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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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