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'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked

Observers: Leah R., Neta G. (Reporting); Marcia L., Translation
Dec-13-2017
| Afternoon

On the way to our observation spot we entered the art gallery at Umm-al-Fahm.  There we met a group of about 15 people who came from Tel Aviv to express solidarity with the residents of the city, to the dissatisfaction of Minister Lieberman. The exhibitions were interesting.  The group intended to end the visit at the restaurant.  We continued to the nearby checkpoints.

14:20 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint, Palestinian Side

When we drove through the vehicle checkpoint, we saw the seamstresses, who work in the sewing workshop in Barta’a, go down to the terminal on their way home in the West Bank. After we parked we met with them in the Palestinian parking lot, as usual with friendly smiles and hand-shaking.  At this early hour agricultural workers (mostly orange pickers) also return home carrying sacks of oranges. Few people wanted to pass to the opposite direction – to the seamline Zone, but only one turnstile serves all, so they had to wait.  The parking lot and the additional lots above the road were totally filled.  In one of the sheds, a few people were praying.  In the other shed drivers sat on the bench.  There is no drink or snack stand.  Our acquaintance H., says they will come later (?).  We hope that the managers of the checkpoint have not thrown them out.

15:00 – Anin Checkpoint

We arrive at the same time as the soldiers.  At the site, two tractors, about 20 men and one woman are waiting.  For some reason, the tractors pass through first today.  People are called in groups of three and permits are checked quickly.  One more tractor and individual people arrive and pass through in threes, “obviously”.  They have time until 15:30, the hour the gates are locked.  We leave beforehand.

15:20 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

Two women, residents of the Palestinian village Umm Reihan (seam line zone), sit in the shed on what is left of the broken bench.  They have a lot of packages and wait for a car that will pass the checkpoint and transport them home. The younger one among them is an English teacher in the school in Jenin.

15:30 – There is almost no traffic and we travel home.

  • '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).

  • 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
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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