‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:55 – A'anin Agricultural Checkpoint
The soldiers are busy opening the third gate at the lower part of the checkpoint. A vehicle is parked in the middle of the checkpoint with the motor running. No one is bothering to save fuel.
06:05 – Three tractors arrive, one after the other, and wait for the soldiers to open the locked gate where I am standing. They are followed by several young men. They tell me that only a few people cross because no one has permits. Their permits were either confiscated or ran out and were not renewed. One person shows me his permit that is valid until the end of the month. He has already asked to renew it and was told to wait. He is the only one in his family who has a permit to cross to their olive groves in the seam line zone, but he has not been promised a new permit.
The soldier who opened the gate stands next to it and listens to my conversations with people passing through. The area around the checkpoint is littered with clothes that our [Machsom Watch] friends brought Palestinians that people were not permitted to bring across to the village, and with other litter. The soldier claims that the army is not responsible for cleaning up the area around the checkpoint. He does not know why people are not permitted to bring clothing across the checkpoint. We were not here for two months, and perhaps the rules have changed. There is no representative from the Liaison and Coordination Administration here and the person responsible is a policewoman from the military police. The soldier reports that few people crossed today. I am reminded of a complaint that we submitted that only 800-1000 permits have been issued and there is a demand for many more from the farmers in the village. Things could always be worse. 15 people from A'anin and 3 tractors crossed the checkpoint.
At 06:25 we left. On the way we saw a pastoral view of cows grazing among the olive groves.
06:35 – Barta'a Checkpoint
16 trucks are waiting on the road, and have been here since yesterday evening. According to the drivers only one group of tenders has crossed since the checkpoint was opened. Several more tenders are waiting in the parking lot. Is this indicative of thriving business between the two sides of the checkpoint? The reality is that while the Palestinian drivers waste their time waiting on the road, Israeli cars pass through and are waved through even before they get to the gate. After all, who is in charge here?
Buses drop students and settlers off at the bus stop. They are waiting here for buses to take them to school and to other places in Israel. One woman waiting at the bus stop looks at me writing [my report] and shouts, "Look at her. Yes, write, take pictures and write. Every day people throw Molotov cocktails and stones at us…." I ignore her. Her ride arrives quickly to take her and the others to Israel.
Taxis arrive and workers disembark and disappear into the terminal quickly and then come out within ten minutes, or a bit longer.
The vendor at the "Bonjour" coffee kiosk is selling his wares to Palestinians in the fenced-in sleeve, and to others who walk about the checkpoint freely. It is a microcosm of an ocupied area.
07:30 – Tura Checkpoint
The young pupils have already crossed and several other older pupils and students are crossing. Workers are crossing from the West Bank to the seam line zone without delay.
At 08:00 we left with the feeling that the occupation has taken root in the hearts of both the conquerors and the conquered. Everything has become routine. One feels like weeping with sadness and frustration.
'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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