'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
14:40 – We arranged to meet M., our friend from A’anin, near the junction next to A’anin, to give him the parcels of used clothing that we had brought. M. was waiting with his son and their tractor. Three small children were sitting on sacks of olives by the road, watching over their family’s belongings.
14:55 – We drove past Barta’a Checkpoint. The parking lots and the sides of the road were filled with cars, and there were 7 small trucks waiting to be checked in the lot by the vehicle checkpoint. We continued driving to Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint and stopped at our friend F.’s grocery store in Emricha. The store is being improved and there is an oven at the entrance. We bought Crembos (a cream-filled chocolate snack) for 1 Shekel. F. was watching a Saudi program on television, in which people were circling the Kaba’a in Mecca seven times. F. has not yet made a pilgrimage to Mecca, but her parents and brother had.
15:10 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
To our surprise, the checkpoint was manned. Soldiers were standing by the road but were not stopping the cars. There was a lot of traffic in both directions but the concrete barriers on the road only allowed cars to go in one direction at a time. Cars waited in line for several minutes while traffic moved one way and then in the other direction.
15:20 – Barta’a Checkpoint
We did not enter the crowded parking lot because of COVID-19. We saw the seamstresses getting into their transport vehicle. The trucks were no longer in the parking lot; they had been driven in to be checked. Just as we drove into the vehicle checkpoint for the Seamline Zone two cars came out after being checked.
15:30 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
There was no traffic. An older man came up to us and asked how we were doing. He said that there was no COVID-19 and that it was an invention by Trump.
15:45 – A’anin Checkpoint
The checkpoint opened 55 minutes late.
About 10 people, four children, and three tractors loaded with sacks of olives were waiting to return home. The soldiers did not arrive on time. One person arrived and crossed through a gap in the fence without waiting for the soldiers to arrive.
At 16:00 I called the District Coordination and Liaison Office. A woman soldier told me she would call the regiment and find out what was going on. When I called again she said that the soldiers were on their way and that there had been incidents along the separation barrier. People were getting tired of waiting. At 16:20 I called again but there was no answer. I called again at 16:30, for the fourth time. The woman answered me immediately and asked what I wanted this time. When I told her the soldiers had not arrived, to my surprise she transferred me to the regiment. Another woman soldier reported that the soldiers were on their way. We didn’t know how long this would take, so we left and asked M. to call us when the soldiers arrived.
At 16:40 M. called and reported that the soldiers had finally arrived.
'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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Ya'bed-Dotan
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Ya’bed-Dotan
This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)
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