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‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 1.10.07, Afternoon

Place: 'Anin checkpoint (214) Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Tags: Crowding
Observers: Neta G., Anna N. S. (reporting)
Oct-01-2007
| Afternoon

12:15 – 15:45

Translation: Devorah K.

Along the road that leads to the seamline zone, there are signs inviting people to the Succoth festivities – music, story-telling, and games for the family in the lap of nature. At the entrance to the Barta'a enclave a Haredi girl is standing and distributing flyers that announce the events in the settlements in the area: Tal Menashe, Reihan, Hinanit, Shaked, Mavo Dothan and Hermesh. We invite her to come with us to the checkpoint, but she believes in 'all the Land of Israel'. She does not know anything about the occupation.

12:15 – 13:30 Shaked (Tura)
The soldiers warn us not to pass the white line. By 13:00  most of the pupils and the little children have already gone home to the seamline zone. The school day is a little shorter because of the Ramadan. The high school pupils have to go through the inspection hut and they come out with their belts in their hands. They say that the school bags are opened and inspected as are the sandwich bags. The younger pupils open their bags and the soldiers glance into them.

A group of pupils coming back from school tease us. The hostile attitude toward us is upsetting…. the buds of hate and hostility and the desire to demonstrate anger. We wait for one of the local people who wants to give us documents and will sign others. The soldiers do not allow us to meet in the middle of the CP. Every one of our attempts to enter the CP compound in order to say something to the soldiers arouses a flood of belligerence: "Get out of here, go on, go on, get out of here!"

A woman wants to transport a washing machine from Tura to her home in Daher el-Malek. She puts it on her head as if it was a straw basket and steps up to the soldiers, who, of course, do not allow her to take it.
Cars pass from here to there with no unnecessary delays. A. goes through with his new pickup truck, which is at long last registered on his permit. People are returning from the West Bank with bags of food.

13:40 – 15:00 Reihan (Barta'a)
In the shed in the lower parking lot, there is a collection of sofas and armchairs, and the drivers are sitting and lying on them, waiting for passengers. Walid is also there as a porter -on -call. During the Ramadan he does not sell coffee and sweets. An ugly routine.

Shortly after 14:00, the seamstresses return in groups. 200 seamstresses work in three sewing workshops in Barta'a, 8 hours a day, for a wage of between 6 and 10 NIS per hour. They object to the inspections in the rooms of the terminal, do not understand why they have to have their IDs inspected twice within a few minutes. They are happy about the the article on the CP in the newspaper, Haaretz; they are proud to tell us that the reporter interviewed them and and ask for a copy of the article.

Toward three o'clock there are more people returning from the seamline zone, and all together only a few dozen go through.

Two pickup trucks are waiting for inspection. A. claims that they are only allowed to transport 30 sheep per day, in two shifts, 15 each time. And that is not enough.

15:05-15:45. 'Anin
Three soldiers at the entrance to the CP at the front, one of them has in hand the ID cards that he collected. He opens each and reads the last 4 numerals to the soldier who checks the numbers on the list in red. The third soldier is bored.
32 people went through in the morning and now they are noting those returning. The passage is conducted quickly and quietly. There is no eye contact, no exchange of words, no greeting. Those standing opposite the gate wait quietly for their turn. Some on foot and some on tractors. They get their IDs back without a word. And without a word go on to their homes.

  • 'Anin checkpoint (214)

    See all reports for this place


    • '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.

  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין: פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
      View the full album
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