‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked
This morning’s fog covers the naked truth of Occupation
Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint 5:50-6:20
There are not many people here at this time and everything proceeds swiftly. Due to the weather many have stayed home, and among those who do come and cross over in order to construct a new town for the Jews – Harish – many have no entry permit into Israelo, or at most only into the ‘seamline zone’, into Eastern Barta’a. However, the temptation to obtain a few days of work is greater than the fear to get caught, arrested, tried, pay an exorbitant fine and be blacklisted for some years.
A 27-year old man approached us and told us something we have been hearing often: he worked in Harish for some contractor who promised to pay after two weeks. At the end of those two weeks he told the young man he was no longer needed, and did not pay him. Please help me get papers for Harish, he pleads with us – both to confront that wholesome looking Israeli contractor and to look for other employment.
‘Aanin ‘agricultural’ checkpoint 6:30-6:55
transit permits emerge, held by unseen people and everyone proceeds into their day
Toura-Shaked ‘fiber of life’ checkpoint – 7:00-7:45
As usual, the checkpoint is filled to bursting with superfluous machinery – a mere few people actually pass through. Neta is sorry to realize that the young children have not yet arrived to get through to their schools.
Yayibe-Roumana ‘agricultural’ checkpoint 8:00-8:30
(inside Israel) which at this foggy hour looks like a lovely impressionist painting
The soldiers were unusually early and open the gates at the exact time. The locals say that there have been no late openings for over two months now. They say it is due to the fact that Border Policemen have been replaced by soldiers+a DCO officer+Military Police. Oh such wonderful occupation, what can we say…
One of the people exiting the checkpoint asks us to see to it that at this side of the seamline zone a waiting shed be erected for the afternoon, just as there is on the Palestinian for the morning hours. He has asked this several times of the DCO representative present at the checkpoint and the answer was: it will be taken care of. Another tells us he is in search of work. “Two days a week I can come out of here and look for work, the rest of the week I sit at home and do nothing.” Another Palestinian tells us he is an ambulance driver in additional to tending his olive tree groves. He learned the profession in Israel.
'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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Tayba-Rummana
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Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence. The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530). (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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