Anin checkpoint: The fault in the gate has not yet been fixed
15:00 – A’anin Checkpoint
We learned from Shula who had been here on shift this morning that there had been a problem because the soldiers did not manage to open the gate. M. and his son were unable to cross with their tractor. We decided to come anyway to see what had happened afterwards. No one was waiting for the checkpoint to open. The gate on the seamline zone side was open as usual, but the middle gate was closed. A military vehicle drove along the security road and stopped next to us. An officer got out and asked what we were doing. Re reported that the checkpoint was closed because of COVID-19, and he is evidently unaware of what was going on.
At 15:20 we called the District Coordination and Liaison Office. A polite female soldier informed us that in the morning the key to the lock on the gate had gotten stuck and the soldiers were unable to open it. She knew that only two people with a tractor had wanted to cross. She reported that there were people in the “blue area” (the seamline zone or Israel) waiting to cross and that they could cross at Tibeh Romena Checkpoint. She was not convinced that we were the only ones there. When we asked if the lock would be repaired by Monday when the checkpoint was due to open again, she said that there would be enough time to fix it by them.
15:30 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
A car brought a woman who crossed to the West Bank. Four women and two men were waiting under the shed for their ride. All of them were residents of Um Reihan who were returning from Jenin. Ironically the men were the ones returning from shopping.
15:50 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint
There was a lot of traffic in both directions and only the concrete blocks slowed down the traffic.
16:00 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint
As usual we did not enter the crowded parking lot on the Palestinian side because of COVID-19. People were selling cakes from a car parked on the side of the road. A lot of Palestinians were descending the sleeve (the long fenced-in covered path) that leads to the entrance of the terminal from the parking lot on the seamline zone side and the crossing point next to it where people return to the West Bank.
On our way home a security guard at the vehicle checkpoint asked who we were and where we had come from, and checked the trunk of our car.
At 16:20 we drove home via Route 611 that passes Barta’a and Harish. I tried to show the others how people were crossing through holes in the security fence, No one was crossing at the time, but there was a makeshift kiosk at the east entrance to Barta’a and a lot of cars were parked there. When we got close to Harish we saw a lot of workers running towards a car that was waiting near the entrance to Mitzpeh Ilan.
'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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East Barta'a Junction
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East Barta'a Junction
The main station at the eastern Barta'a junction (Roads 611/6115).
A junction without special activities became about April 2020 a bustling center of transportation to workplaces in Israel, following the free passage through loopholes in the nearby separation fence.
Palestinian workers from all over the West Bank gather here every morning, without transit permits and often without masks. The army is turning a blind eye and the occupation is losing control.
There is also no shortage of coffee and pastry stalls.
Hagar DrorSep-26-2023Barta'a: rapid construction of the separation fence
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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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