‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
06:00 ‘Anin checkpoint
The checkpoint opened on time; about ten people and three tractors went through in 20 minutes. Why so few? Perhaps because the DCL isn’t hurrying to renew expired permits so that Palestinians will have to traverse the Via Dolorosa required to renew them. One farmer who crossed hypothesizes that it could be because there’s not much work now available in the olive groves – but we all know that’s not the reason. In any case, since the last olive harvest, in 2013, the number of people going through this checkpoint has steadily diminished, new crossing permits to the seam zone are not being granted and those which have expired are not being renewed. While this happens every year, it’s even more obvious this year.
Muhammad, from ‘Anin, was imprisoned in Israel for a few months (six years ago) because he was caught in Israel illegally (like dozens/hundreds of Palestinians who daily build and clean our country). He served his time but continued to be blacklisted by the police from entering Israel. Meanwhile, he has a job in eastern Barta’a; he wants to get a crossing permit for the Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint (which is open daily until late, and near his workplace), not just for ‘Anin (which is open only two days a week and far from his workplace). He says they’re not giving him the permit to go through the Reihan checkpoint to Barta’a (which is a Palestinian, not an Israeli, village) because he’s on the blacklist. Bottom line: No one at either the Palestinian or the Israeli DCL is willing to make an effort to fulfill his request and the occupation’s bureaucracy continues enthusiastically to wear down people like him. We referred him to Chaya; perhaps she’ll be able to assist him to fill out official forms requesting that he be removed from the police blacklist which might help him live under occupation.
Husni, the redhead, who has new glasses but whose tractor is still being repaired, also complains about the occupation’s bureaucracy. He hasn’t been blacklisted, doesn’t appear on any Shabak or police lists, but hasn’t been able to obtain an agricultural crossing permit for the Barta’a checkpoint. His land is near that checkpoint, which is open daily. “There’s no consistency; I’m successful once, but they refuse three other times.” He also runs back and forth between the Palestinian and Israeli DCLs, begs, requests, but they’re driving him crazy, offhandedly sending him from one to the other. Go, come. “My life will be a little easier if they let me cross there,” he says. From the occupation’s perspective, that’s an 
unacceptable benefit.
06:40 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint
The checkpoint seems to be operating like clockwork. Perpetual motion. It’s clear the only people who cross here are those with unquestionably valid permits. It’s important to remember that many others want to go through this checkpoint but aren’t able to obtain permits, and the occupation has a thousand reasons for denying a crossing permit to a local resident in his own country, his homeland. That’s the essence of the greatest injustice – denying the right of an occupied people to move freely from place to place in its occupied land. We come to the checkpoint to demonstrate against the denial of that right, have documented these harsh conditions, which are growing more complicated, for 13 consecutive years and also try to help the locals as much as possible.
Many vehicles wait in the checkpoint’s upper parking lot to transport workers coming from the West Bank, most of them on their way to the Palestinian side of Barta’a. Many commercial vehicles wait on the road on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint, loaded with merchandise and agricultural produce, coming from the Jenin area and going to Barta’a and villages in the area. The merchandise is completely wrapped in plastic.
06:50 Ya’bed-Dotan checkpoint
No soldiers; the checkpoint is open. Though we knew it would be open we came anyway because we love the route (“Tuscany”). We may never see peace come but at least we’ve been able to travel through Palestine’s lovely landscapes. The tobacco fields are still green but they’ve already begun drying the leaves.
07:20 Tura-Shaked checkpoint
A small checkpoint, crammed with installations, structures, electrical equipment and apparatus and more and more unnecessary and superfluous security devices, and few people crossing (pupils and teachers are currently on vacation). Once this checkpoint operated very well with only an iron bar that was raised and lowered by a rope. Now the attempt to upgrade and make more efficient the crossing procedure has only made it more and more complicated and lengthier. People on foot move through metal sleeves; vehicles cross only after their driver has his ID checked at the booth and his existence confirmed until evening; and lo, 15 sheep guided by an old woman tailing them with a stick cross through the checkpoint on the main road without waiting for a signal from the soldier and without having to present an agricultural permit.
07:55 Tayba-Rummana checkpoint
The checkpoint opened early today (unlike previous long delays); Border Police soldiers run it. People crossing said that when we weren’t here the checkpoint didn’t always open on time. The Border Police soldiers say that if they don’t open the checkpoint on time there’s a good reason. Who asked for justice but didn’t get any?
'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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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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