‘Anin, Mevo Dotan (Imriha), Reihan, Shaked, Tue 30.11.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:00 A’anin checkpoint
About 50 people crossed since 05:30, and about 30 more, two tractors and two donkeys since we arrived. Tires lie at the checkpoint entrance, evidence of the prohibition against bringing them into A’anin. One of those crossing has an olive grove next to the fence but he’s not allowed to harvest them this year. Last year he was allowed. Another has a crossing permit but says he can apply to renew it only on the day its validity expires, and has to wait a month before he gets the new permit. In the past we’ve raised the issue with the DCO commanders, but nothing happened. Now he has to wait more time and money traveling to the DCO in the hope that the permit will ultimately be renewed.
The children from the wadi walk up with their schoolbooks open before them. There are exams now and they spend every minute reviewing the material. Their ride to school in Umm Reihan comes at 7, and from there they’ll go to the Shaked checkpoint to cross to the school in Tura. One man complains about an olive grove damaged by grazing cows; he has to keep working in the grove after the harvest ends to take care of the trees. Will he get a permit?
Three Hummers arrive at the checkpoint, and people aren’t allowed to cross until they drive off.
06:45 Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint
In the middle of the central plaza of the checkpoint an electric Hanukkah menorah has been erected, so the Palestinian people will be happy on the Jews’ holiday.
Merchants and workers arrive in groups from the West Bank and are swallowed up in the checkpoint on their way to Barta’a. There’s an announcement posted on the fence that the checkpoint will close at 8 in the evening because of the Festival of Lights, thank you, and Happy Holiday. The checkpoint fills up as 8 approaches. A slight uproar near the booth. The guard tries to explain to an old man what he should do with his blue bags: take them, place them, open, close. He doesn’t understand and delays others who are shouting instructions from afar.
A guard arrives. Because of the uproar and the delay, we thought – but no. A guard who saw us talking on the phone notified the administration that we’re photographing the secret checkpoint. We told him that when we do take photographs, we’ll be sure to tell him.
07:15 Shaked-Tura checkpoint
The checkpoint operates according to the usual routine; each actor knows his part: when to drive forward, on which side to cross, who goes where and when and who approaches the soldiers directly with satchels gaping. The efficiency is frightening.
08:00 Mavo Dothan checkpoint
The locked yellow gates on the roads to Kafin and Zabde are still in place. We wonder why and wherefore? Maybe they’ve been forgotten?
We approach the checkpoint slowly. Soldiers come over to us to find out who we are. We were only wondering, they sneered, and returned to their positions. The crossing is paved, inspections are random. On returning to the Reihan checkpoint we see a number of pickup trucks loaded with food and a few cars waiting for inspection.
08:30 We left
'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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