‘Anin, Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 11.6.09, Afternoon
Another aspect of the occupation: Punishing Palestinians for not being prompt…
14:10 Jalameh
We dropped off the little girl Aya and her mother Suheil at Jalameh and got out to observe and to show our guest the border crossing. Suheil asked us to enter the terminal with her. We explained that we could not, and left for A’anin.
14:50 A’anin
While we wait for the gate to open at 15:00 we are told by a resident of A’anin that his brother, Imad Wahed Assad Yussef, had his agricultural permit confiscated at Reihan on Monday. The reason: he crossed to the seamline zone on Monday morning through A’anin, but had not left work in his olive grove in time to return to A’anin before the gate closed at 3:30, and had to return to the West Bank through the Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint. Since anyone coming into the seamline zone through an agricultural checkpoint must return via the same checkpoint, he had broken the rules, and therefore had his agricultural permit confiscated as “punishment”. For this serious crime he might not get his permit back for 30 days. Neta calls the Liaison and Coordination Administration to try and straighten the matter out, but is told that the person in charge is not there and that the man should call about his permit on Sunday.
A resident of A’anin is returning home with an empty wagon after fertilizing his olive trees. He complains bitterly that the herd of cows from Ein Shahala still roams his groves, causing extensive damage, and that his elderly father and mother who passed away two months ago received agricultural permits – but his brother – who is needed in the fields – did not.
The gate opens at 15:00 and several tractors drive through. Neta gives people several bags of used clothing and they are permitted to take them through promptly. When the man approached the soldier at the checkpoint to appeal to get his brother’s permit back, the soldier chastised him: “I have to be here to open this gate at 3:00. How would you feel if I didn’t get here until 3:05?” We were told by the soldiers that this morning about 30 people out of the 140 people who are permitted to pass through came through the gate at A’anin.
15:40 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
A car with a refrigerator on its roof is waiting to be admitted into the seamline zone and the refrigerator is being checked by the soldiers. At 15:55 the passengers walk through and get in again after the car with the refrigerator was allowed through. Another vehicle arrives traveling towards the West Bank and leaves at 16:05. We depart for Reihan-Barta’a.
16:15 Reihan-Barta’a Checkpoint
The lower parking lot is crowded with cars and taxis. For some reason the exit to the terminal is locked, and about 20 people are waiting to get out. We call to the staff to ask why the gate is not opened, and after a few minutes the gate is opened and they all hurry out. At the entrance to the terminal at the end of the sleeve about a dozen people are waiting. They go in quickly since there are two windows open.
One man is carrying two large empty containers and asks to go in through the gate because they are too large to fit into the turnstile. He is let in and the gate is quickly shut again. As more people arrive the line in front of the entrance becomes longer.
About 30 people are waiting, and ironically only one window is operating. Soon the window reopens again and people begin to move. On the way out a Palestinian greets our guest in English with a brief summary of how things are: “You see what it’s like here… We have to come through here every day. There are good days and there are bad days. Life is hard for us.”
He said it all.
We left at 17:20.
'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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Jalama
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North of Jenin, on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. A big terminal for the passage of Palestinians with permits allowing entrance into Israel and goods into Israel operates there. In the course of 2009 the terminal was opened for the passage of Israeli Arabic citizens into the West Bank. Since October 2009 they may pass in their cars.
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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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