‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan
06:10 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
Many workers who have already gone through the checkpoint are waiting outside for rides to work. People report that today crossing was relatively fast, but that yesterday, Sunday it was extremely crowded.
We walked towards the terminal through the sleeve and people walk toward us coming out. People report that there are a lot of people in the terminal, and that only two windows are open for inspecting documents, and that there is a long line.
At 06:30 a third window opened and things moved a little faster, but people still complained that it took a long time, "50 meters per hour." Some of the young people crossing are students from the village of Yaabed, located within the Palestinian Authority, but they go to school in Barta'a and have to go through the checkpoint every day.
06:50– We went down to the lower gate on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint to see what the situation was over there. No one was waiting to enter the checkpoint and the parking lot was filled with cars and trucks. We drove on to A'anin.
07:00 – A'anin Checkpoint
The gates of the checkpoint are locked. There is no one there except the schoolchildren who live in the Bedouin camp below the checkpoint, who are on their way to school. We hear voices from the other gate, on the far side of the checkpoint, where residents of A'anin are waiting to cross to the seamline zone, to harvest olives.
At 07:05 the soldiers arrive and begin to open the checkpoint. At 07:15 the first Palestinian crosses. A few Palestinians cross on their way to their olive groves as well as several tractors. One of them stops inside the area of the checkpoint. He has received a permit to harvest the trees, which are within the area of the checkpoint, but only when the checkpoint is open.
07:25– An argument begins between one of the young Palestinians and the soldiers, holding up the rest of the people. The soldiers do not allow him to cross because his clothes are too clean ("that's not how you dress for work"). A Palestinian woman in a brightly printed dress was also questioned but was allowed to cross. More people and tractors crossed the checkpoint.
The permits issued to people for the olive harvest are valid until November 15th. People complain that they will not be able to complete all the work by then, especially when this year not enough permits have been issued and the harvest took even longer. They heard a rumor that the mayor of the village (who is also the school principal) agreed to the closing of the checkpoint on Saturdays as well as during Eid Al Adbakh. This is what they were told by an officer from the Liaison and Coordination Administration, and they claimed this was not true.
At 07:35 the children were picked up to go to school and we didn't see any other people waiting to cross.
07:45– More and more heavy clouds were rolling from the west. Since most of the activity at Tura Checkpoint was already over, we decided not to go to observe anymore and started to drive home. The rain caught up with us on the way.
'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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