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

Observers: Rachel Weitzman and Ruthi Tuval (reporting. Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham
Jun-14-2020
| Afternoon

15:23 – Hermesh Checkpoint

We passed by Reihan – Barta’a checkpoint on the way to Hermesh Checkpoint and saw that the parking lot was jammed with cars.  We used the WAZE application to measure the new road that had been paved from the Um Reihan junction to Hermesh checkpoint.  It is 2.2 kilometers long.   During the past week white separation lines and yellow border lines have been painted.  The checkpoint was unmanned and a few cars were crossing freely.   

15:35 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint

Various types of army vehicles were driving back and forth along the road to the checkpoint.  At the checkpoint cars were driving through between the concrete blocks. 

15:50 – Reihan-Barta’a Checkpoint

For some reason, drivers insist upon entering the crowded area that smells from exhaust and the robust Palestinian attendants made no effort to attain order in the chaos.  We moved among the cars with difficulty.  A lot of workers were arriving.  We bought grapes from a vendor who assured us that they had been irrigated with good clean water from Israel….    

16:15 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint

As usual, there was very little traffic and the checkpoint was quiet.  The garbage contained had been removed and the area was relatively clean thanks to the excavations that are being done to lay electric cables.  Evidently there had just been an accident nearby at the junction near the army camp.  The police were already there.  A small car had run into the fence and into a huge electric pole that was leaning on its side.  A soldier told us that the driver was all right and mentioned that he was Jewish despite the fact that we hadn’t asked. 

16:45 – A’anin Checkpoint

After reading Hannah and Neta’s report we wanted to see the renovations at this checkpoint.  We found that the gate was open and two friendly soldiers from the Collective Agricultural Settlements let us go inside.    The soldiers were happy to see us and had learned that this was an agricultural checkpoint.   They reported that farmers still could not cross here and had to drive to Reihan – Barta’a.  Why?  Because of Corona.  There was no point in calling the District Coordination and Liaison office because they are disconnected.  Luckily we were wearing masks.

 

  • '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).

  • Hermesh

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    • Hermesh

  • 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
      Ruti Tuval
      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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