‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Mon 3.6.13, Morning
North 3.6.2013
Lea R., Anna N.Sh.
06:10 – Agricultural Checkpoint Aanin (214) – opens twice weekly
We arrived at the same time as a military hummer with 3-4 officers in it. The soldiers are already at the checkpoint, at the middle gate towards the village Aanin. We tried to start a conversation with one of the officers in the vehicle who refused to introduce himself. We wanted to inquire about the destiny of the shepherd from the village Tura and his herd, who after years are still not allowed to pass through the checkpoint because “the sheep do not have a permit”. We received a short answer: “These are the regulations”. We were told as well to turn to the officer on duty at the Advanced Command Post each time we would like to file a complaint. This way they apparently wanted to stop us from harassing P., the District Coordination officer.
The hummer enters the checkpoint and the people begin to pass through. They all wear worn out and frayed clothes and do not carry any bags, so the passage continues at a reasonable pace with no delays. (Reminder: holders of an agricultural permit who want to go to their lands that are held confined within the seamline zone are not allowed to pass through to their lands if they are dressed too neatly, according to the opinions and tastes of the soldiers.)
6:30 – By now, about 30 people have passed, while another 50 are still waiting. Most of the passers are about 40 years old, though there are younger ones as well.
A repeating complaint: Children are not being allowed to pass through the checkpoint together with their parents, even if they show the papers that prove they are their children (birth certificate and an identity card of one of the parents). In the long summer vacation many parents would want to bring along their children to work at the olive groves, and here we have a new problem, after the old one (wardrobe) seem to have been “solved”.
06:40 – Many are still waiting. The passers report that except for a few young children no one returned back to the village today.
Ahmed passes with his tractor. He has still not been able to revoke the prohibition to pass with his tractor at (the very far away) Tura checkpoint, although he needs more than two days of work at his large pieces of land that are right next to the Aanin checkpoint on the occupied side. Except for routine work and ploughing (for which he needs the tractor), he must guard the trees from the pasturing cows that damage them. His biggest pleasure would be to go to the olive groves in the morning and return home in the evening, as a normal farmer – but no: only the military decides whether to allow or forbid, and the military decides to forbid the tractor’s entry. Why? For no reason!
07:10 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
We meet again the polite officer in the military hummer that is never helpful. He does stop to say hello, but immediately announces that he is in a hurry… before we bother him with difficult questions and waste his precious time that is dedicated to Israel’s security.
'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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