‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
15:00 Anin Checkpoint
The checkpoint opened a bit early so by the time we arrive nearly everyone — about thirty people – have already passed through. A young couple – a bride and groom – arrive in a decorated car along with the mother and sister of the bride. The bride is from Anin, her spouse from the Palestinian village of Umm Rihan which is located in the seamline zone, over the separation barrier but not within the West Bank. More of the bride’s relatives arrive in another decorated car driven by a woman from Umm al-Fahm (within Israel). They all cross to Anin. We wanted to take a picture of the young couple but didn’t when the groom asked us not to publicize the photo given that the bride is Muslim and accordingly only shows her pictures to family members.
15:20 Tura Shaked Checkpoint
It’s quiet and nearly empty when we arrive. The trash bin has been emptied, but the area is littered with old tires and garbage. In the shade sit three woman with many bags. We offer them a ride and they ask to be taken to the Bedouin encampment at the outskirts of the Anin checkpoint.
15:50 On the way to the Ya’abed checkpoint we pass by the Barta’a Reihan checkpoint. The parking lot is crowded, there’s a mess of cars leading to the checkpoint that’s only straighted out when one of the Palestinian ushers takes control. The parking lots on the hill opposite the checkpoint are full. The gate blocking the shortcut to Ya’abed is locked, as usual.
16:00 Ya’abed-Dotan Checkpoint
We observe traffic moving smoothly. In the window of the guard tower we see a soldier attempting to hang a flag. Above the concrete wall around the tower there’s a white fence almost the height of the tower. A red sign warms Israeli drivers against crossing into Area A.
When I try to photograph the installation a military jeep pulls up next to us and asks that we not idle there because it’s a “hot zone”.
16:20 Barta’a Riehan Checkpoint, Seamline Zone side
There’s a constant flow of people disembarking from the shuttle buses and moving through the terminal to the Palestinian side. The document examination machines aren’t working today, either. A few familiar seamstresses pass by us. Few pass into the seamline zone, most of them women. One of the checkpoint employees complains that they’ve been waiting on his brother’s work permit renewal for over a month, while a friend had his renewed within a week. Someone asks for our help having an order forbidding entry to Israel retracted, so that he can work in Israel. We give him a phone number to call. A construction worker who has a job in Harish complains that his employer won’t get insurance for him. We refer him to a helpline for workers.
17:00 We leave. Many people continue to arrive at the checkpoint on their way 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.
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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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