Anin Checkpoint: It is not important to open on time
A’anin Checkpoint, 15:30
About 15 people were waiting next to the checkpoint and other workers continued to arrive. Two soldiers who were stationed there 24/7 looked at the people and at us, but of course it is not their job to open the checkpoint. M. told us that about 80 people crossed this morning. He also reported that more people were receiving permits and that they are also being allowed to cross at Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint when A’anin Agricultural Checkpoint is not open because “they want us to be able to earn a living.”
The checkpoint is supposed to open at about 16:00, but by 17:00 the soldiers who were supposed to open it had still not arrived. We called the District Coordination and Liaison Office and were told that they had other matters to deal with. The checkpoint finally opened at 17:40. On our way to the other checkpoint we noticed that there were more military vehicles than usual.
Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint
The checkpoint was filled with activity. Hundreds of workers were walking down the covered sleeve from the upper parking lot to cross to the West Bank. Waiters dressed in black and white uniforms were crossing to the seamline zone to work at weddings in Wadi Eron and Barta’a. Two sisters with their husbands and six small children from Kafin attempted to cross to attend a family wedding in Barta’a. There was a mistake in one of the women’s ID numbers and she was not allowed to cross. We attempted to ask one of the workers, who checked into the matter but after a short time the answer came that she was still not permitted to cross. Only one family crossed to attend the wedding. The father reported that he had a son who is ill and uses a wheelchair. He is permitted to bring his son into Israel for treatments, but when they cross the checkpoint the son is required to get out of the car and maneuver through the sleeve in his wheelchair. Why is he not permitted to cross at the vehicle crossing?
Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
Workers were returning to the West Bank from work in Israel and the seamline zone. Young people, students, and women who had been shopping were returning to the seamline zone from Jenin. Cars were crossing in both directions. One of the women who crossed was sitting at the entrance to the checkpoint. She was a resident of Dahar Al Malek and tearfully told us that she and her son had returned from the West bank in her car. She crosses the checkpoint every day so that her son can receive an injection, but today he was stopped (arrested?) at the checkpoint. Meanwhile her husband came from the village and attempted to talk with the soldiers. One of the soldiers explained that the young man had been detained for security reasons. They knew he was sick and gave him water to drink, but they were waiting for an answer from the District Coordination and Liaison Office and from the command post.
Note: Today I read in the papers that Israel is going to invest NIS 300 million to build a wall that will replace the security fence that will stretch from Salem to Bat Hefer – the area in which we observe the checkpoints. This decision was made due to the recent terrorist attacks. However, what we see happening – the repairs made to the fence, the increased number of work permits that have been issues are apparent and there are no more holes in the fence and no more illegal crossings.
'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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