‘Anin, Mevo Dotan (Imriha), Reihan, Shaked, Thu 16.8.12, Morning
Translator: Charles Kamen
06:10-06:40 A’anin checkpoint
A chilly Palestinian morning greets us. Younger men have now joined the veterans coming through, crossing happily for the first time with their own permits. A bitter joy, an achievement testifying to the great injustice occurring here. Everyone greets us in friendship. MP’s with a hand scanning wand check the men going through. One says – aren’t they ashamed? What, am I going [to bomb] Tel Aviv? A young man complains emotionally that his elderly father didn’t receive a new crossing permit. He points to those waiting: They receive theirs, my father doesn’t? But he leaves without waiting for us to take down the information. Another resident of A’anin, who had gone to visit relatives in Umm Reihan, after a liver or kidney transplant in Egypt, says – why do they close at 06:30? I want them to stay open until 07:00! But he also realizes he’s only letting off steam; it won’t help.
The sun rises behind me. The clouds are lovely, as usual, but it’s hard to really get excited
when everything here is depressing, again and again, year after year.
06:50 – 7:35 Shaked/Tura checkpoint
The soldiers trail slowly up the road to the checkpoint. The checkpoint itself is closed and locked. Goats wait on our side, large, fat male sheep on the Tura side (it appears to be their last day on earth). Silence, not a baa or a mehh. Once people begin crossing the operation proceeds slowly and
steadily.
07:30 Reihan checkpoint.
We passed without entering; the line of commercial vehicles wait to go through and have their merchandise inspected, passenger vans wait for customers, people behave as they do during Ramadan – wearily. Everything goes like clockwork, like a Swiss watch or a time bomb.
Ya’abed
We entered Ya’abed. It’s too early for this (still) sleepy town, another large rural commercial center between Barta’a and Jenin. A colorful structure whose construction has apparently been suspended caught our eyes. In the center of town we met an affable woman and her daughter. We gave them a ride home, gave them toys, games and some clothing.
08:15-08:30 Dothan/Ya’abed checkpoint
The checkpoint is manned, the soldiers either allow or prohibit vehicles to cross and we’re unable to understand how they decide to operate so lazily. There are always cars waiting, but briefly. Two soldiers approached to ask politely whether “we need anything.” No, thanks.
Ramadan ends in two or three days, the holiday will be over and people will be less distracted, more awake in the morning.
08:35 Reihan checkpoint
Still there, frozen, motionless, unchanged.
East Barta’a
Regards from Walid, black as coal from head to foot, attempting to maintain a façade of “everything’s ok,” but we know it isn’t…
Another Ramadan has ended. But not the occupation.
'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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