‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked, Thu 24.10.13, Morning
06:15 Barta’a/Reihan checkpoint
Thanks to the time difference between Israel and Palestine we could reach the Barta’a checkpoint early, while it was still dark, find a space in the parking lot, see that all the actors are in their places and able to play their parts with eyes closed. In this performance the occupier hides in a booth and only his voice is heard: Enter. Wait. Palestinians are discharged from the taxis, hurry to the yellow electronic gate and usually kick it open. From there through fenced lanes to the terminal, have their belongings scanned, their documents inspected, through another revolving gate, more fenced corridors and then out and yallah, to work. Those are the fortunate players with jobs and permits. Other actors, who aren’t visible in this performance, have a much harder, more complicated role. These are Palestinians who don’t meet the “criteria,” so they can’t get to the Palestinian villages behind the fence. At best they’re able to reach them after a very long, expensive journey, but that’s a different play.
Why do we keep coming back to this familiar, depressing show? Mainly for the sabah el-hir [good morning] with which the Palestinians graciously greet us under their breath.
07:00 A’anin checkpoint
We arrived at the same time as the soldiers, but they start working only 20 minutes later. Why? Whaddayamean why? What don’t you understand?
While we waited for the checkpoint to open H. arrived, a Palestinian aged about 30, married with children, who seemed like a gentle, good-hearted person. He lives in A’anin; his permanent agricultural permit wasn’t renewed, though it expired on 21.10.13, just when the olive harvest was underway! No, no, he’s not blacklisted. No one explained him why. His mother is the sole owner of an olive grove; he says she has a deed and everything, but the 
trees are on the wrong side of the damned separation fence. So he detours around the Barta’a checkpoint, which costs him 70 shekels, or sleeps wherever he can, doesn’t see his wife and children – so he’ll be able to pick the olives. Who wouldn’t do the same?
07:20 The first to exit the checkpoint which opened at 7 are Shafik and his donkey. Shafik is getting old but the donkey he comes with is always young. He’s followed by a slow trickle of men and, for the harvest, women as well (Where are you from, they ask; we’re from Jaffa, they tell us…). Neta notices them lugging many bottles of water. The reason: to wash hands and face before prayer during the working day. The men and women are angry, justifiably: why aren’t the tractors allowed through first so that everyone travelling with them can continue immediately to the groves a few kilometers away, rather than wasting time waiting impatiently? They asked the soldiers, but the tractors cross last – so there.
A display of military vehicles at the checkpoint: some kind of prisoner van (like in the movies), a jeep, another jeep, and the DCO’s white Toyota. Too many supervisors; too little efficiency.
08:10 Crossing stops. Why? Nobody says. The soldiers gather off to the side. We telephoned the DCO; they answered courteously. They transferred us to someone in charge. Said he’d look into it. Who knows.
08:20 The tractors begin crossing. One driver says: Once the olive harvest was a festive time for us. Now it’s just nerve-wracking.
08:35 Tura/Shaked checkpoint.
No activity at all.
09:00 Tayibe/Rumaneh checkpoint
We must have come too late because it’s closed and no one’s waiting. The DCO updates us about the hours it’s open, but the soldier must have mixed up Jewish time and Palestinian time.
'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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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