‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
Translator: Charles K.
06:15 A’anin checkpoint
The tractors were among the first to go through today. People on foot followed, fewer than on other days. They say soldiers continue to confiscate crossing permits from everyone listed as having exited through this checkpoint in the morning but not returning through it to the village in the afternoon. We already reported that many farmers risk losing their permit by returning to go through the Barta’a checkpoint – the A’anin checkpoint closes at 15:30, while Barta’a is open until 21:00. Applying for a new permit – their punishment – takes a long time and is a nerve-wracking process.
Mayada, a new member, joined our shift. She’s a resident of one of the villages in Wadi Ara. People stopped to talk with her in Arabic, told her how difficult their lives were. And how sad. Come to the village, said one, you won’t believe it – lovely homes, well-organized, with everything you need, lacking nothing – except for one thing: food. We have no food. We can’t earn a living. His son recently graduated from university and has no chance of finding an appropriate job – or any job. Before the intifada many people worked in Umm el Fahm, the nearby Arab city – primarily in construction – or in central Israel. They earned enough, made a decent living. That’s all gone.
07:00 Tura checkpoint
People quickly go through.
07:15 Barta’a checkpoint
We drove down to the lower parking lot, which is actually located in the West Bank. We forgot that Mayada isn’t allowed to go through this checkpoint in any direction. We met someone who awaited us in the parking lot, spoke with him for five minutes and started back up to the seam zone. The parking lot was jammed with cars. People coming from the West Bank went through quickly; we saw three vehicles, loaded with agricultural produce, waiting to cross and be inspected. We reached the booth – the security guard saw Mayada – an Arab! OMG! Wow! Action! An argument arose, and we tried to speak calmly, sensibly. Things heated up, unnecessarily. The two young female security guards who were "handling" us overdid it when they spoke to us angrily (as if a crime had been committed) and excelled particularly in their rudeness. They unnecessarily raised their voices (we’re not especially hard of hearing), unnecessarily repeated their main point over and over again (we got it the first time), that an Israeli Arab isn’t allowed to enter the West Bank through this checkpoint, only via Jalameh (Gilbo’a). Z., the checkpoint manager, didn’t answer when Neta called his cellphone (a number he himself had given to members of MachsomWatch), but sent N., the duty manager, who gave Neta this message: Stop phoning him or he’ll file a complaint about harassment. N., less rude than the women but still unnecessarily aggressive, interrogated Mayada – who is she, what is she? She showed him her ID card and employee ID (she works as a registered nurse in a government hospital) and said: “I’m a public employee, just like you…”
Finally, after about 45 minutes of mutual accusations, they agreed that if Mayada isn’t allowed to enter the West Bank from here, she’s also not allowed to continue to the Jalameh checkpoint, at the northern edge of the West Bank. So they let her cross with us.
'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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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