‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked
06:00 – 08:45
Barta’a Checkpoint 6:05 a.m.
one of the regular users of the checkpoint (photo: Shuli Bar)
Barta’a Checkpoint 6:05 a.m.
This checkpoint opens at 5 a.m. An hour later, as we arrived, the waiting line was very long, and moved in absolute silence towards the turnstiles under the watchful eye of Palestinian security guards. The pace of entering the turnstiles and proceeding to the terminal was not fast. It is highly likely that only 2-3 inspection booths were active inside. The Palestinian security guards wear black uniforms and are armed with clubs, the Israeli security guards bear firearms, and between the two stand Palestinian day-workers, obedient and subjugated.
‘Anin Checkpoint 6:30 a.m.
At least 60 people crossed the checkpoint today, many of them youngsters. We heard the DCO had informed the local farmers that they could apply to renew their permit to cross at Anin Checkpoint, open only two days a week, and the permit would also be valid for Barta’a Checkpoint, open daily from dawn till night. This is a surprising novelty, which so far has not been implemented. Time will tell.
Tura Checkpoint 7:30 a.m.
Numerous vehicles wait outside the checkpoint to pick up workers and deliver them to their work places. On Sundays-Wednesdays this checkpoint is supposed to open at 6:30 a.m. On Thursdays- Saturdays it opens at 7 a.m., usually later. Today it opened at 7:15, and the workday began with taught nerves because of the workers’ tardy arrival to work, because of the delay by the turnstile and because of the actual inspection in the booth, where somehow the computer either “didn’t warm up sufficiently”… or the soldier who checks the paperwork and does this slowly and sloppily. The Palestinians feel this is done so on purpose. Every single day, for many years, this lack of consideration for the Palestinians’ basic needs preserves and reinforces their hostile feelings towards the army and hatred of Israel.
We hear a woman-soldier yelling at the nervous crowd, promising them that as long as they don’t hold still they will not be allowed through.
7:35 a.m. – a DCO representative arrives in a large white Toyota. He was here at 7, but the soldiers were not, so he went elsewhere (we saw him at Anin Checkpoint). Said a veteran driver: now he will make them line up and no one will get through. And indeed, the yelling dies down and the first of the passing workers emerges from the shorter sleeve only after 10 long minutes.
One man asks us: well, tell us what you do? To our explanation we added that “we come here so you can see there are Israelis to whom you really matter and that they really care about your dire situation at the checkpoints.”
Tayibe-Rumana Checkpoint 8 a.m.
Policemen’s orders (photo: Shuli Bar)
About 50 people stand waiting. The Border Police is already here and opening all the gates (2 net gates, 2 yellow metal gates). Passage is rather swift. One man is turned back, we couldn’t understand why. One of the men exiting asks us to remain until they all get through, and another explains that a month ago crossing was halted mid-way, a group of men could not get through and had to go back home. We did not understand the reason for this, there may have been “an incident at the fence” (a general description for various kinds of security events that justify soldiers leaving the checkpoint). 4 hours later, at 12 noon, they were informed by the DCO that they could get back to the checkpoint and cross over.
'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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