‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:40 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
A gray morning, cloudy, rain hangs in the air. The first ones out of the terminal are women. They smile, wave “hello” and are swallowed up in a minibus that takes them to work at Barta’a. A young man in a dark hooded jogging suit, asked us to help him shorten the period of time of his prohibition (prohibition from entering Israel). Seven years ago he was caught for an illegal stay in Israel and was given 9 years’ prohibition from entering Israel. We referred him to the staff that helps Palestinians to file an official request for a reduction of a prohibition.
The sleeve was full of workers exiting for their day of labor. We went down to the opening of the terminal, whose path the workers hurried along, as they went up to the vehicles that take them to work. We noticed that none of them are threading a belt through their trousers, a widespread sight in the morning. A man is praying on his knees.
The turnstile turns incessantly. In the terminal 5 inspection windows are open and the pace of passage is quick. The Israeli security guards greeted us this time with smiles and joking. This time also they did not forbid us to stand where we always stand but they did not permit us to go down by foot to the Palestinian parking lot. Leah was interested in the possibility of putting up a shed for those who wait at the entrance to the terminal so that they don’t get wet in the rain. The guard agreed; it is easier to inspect a man who is dry, but there is no budget for a shed. He requested that we should pressure the appropriate places.
06:35 – Anin Checkpoint
The sky was covered with rain clouds. The checkpoint was opened on time but today only a few passed through. Some of them immediately retraced their footsteps. According to them, they expected a flood any minute. Altogether, about 40 men and 3 tractors left the checkpoint and about 10 returned to the village. The soldiers waited in the rain until they closed the checkpoint at the appointed time. Leah looked for the head of Anin village; she wanted to be updated on the expropriation of the village land. His nephew gave us his name and phone number.
A resident of Anin whom we knew, rode with us until Umm Reihan to visit relatives. He was happy to tell us about a great grandchild about to be born to him and about his grandchild who is about to get married. He said that in his time, he was a merchant and sold books, among other things, in the settlements between Haifa and the Western Galil.
07:05 –Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
Heavy rain fell. The checkpoint was almost completely empty. Two women waited for a ride to the sewing workshop in Barta’a along with a few workers. A man of about 40 from the area of Yabed told us that he left his car at the checkpoint and is waiting for a “tramp” that would come and take him to work in Hadera. He is a merchant there. The rain harms his livelihood; he has a wife and five children. School children entered and exited for the checkpoint, running to their wet day of studies.
Despite the rain or perhaps because of it, people were in a good mood. We need the rain. It is good for agriculture. It is good for a person, they said.
07:25 – We leave in the rain.
'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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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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