‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 13.9.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:00 A’anin agricultural gate
About 25 men and women and a few tractors wait in the middle of the checkpoint. The inspection is very slow. Pockets turned out, shirts raised, bags and satchels opened. People leaving aren’t entered into the computer, for some reason. But every tractor is still inspected carefully. People say their permissions still haven’t been renewed. They have no idea when the olive harvest will begin. They ask about our holidays in order to plan for the closure that will be imposed on them. Five youths were sent back home. A relatively large number of children accompany their parents to the olive groves. It’s the last day of summer vacation. School starts tomorrow.
An old man walks alongside a donkey ridden by a young boy. As they walk along a cute young donkey foal climbs up the hill and attaches himself to her. The old man tries to chase it away, to no avail. The boy is excited, and so are we. “Hada ibenha” he calls excitedly – it’s her son. They give up and continue on their way, the foal walking alongside his mother.
06:45 Inspection ends and the checkpoints close.
07:00 Tura checkpoint (Shaked)
People cross. The usual routine. Y. says the soldiers are ok, but not the MP.
We meet one of Yuval’s Angels who’s come from Jerusalem to take a sick girl to Hadassah hospital, and bring her back.
The soldiers cooperate with her, and as soon as the girl’s family arrives she’s called to meet them inside the checkpoint without unnecessary waiting or delay. They’re to be commended!
07:25 Muntar
We run into an acquaintance and drive with him to visit his family in Muntar, on the way to Barta’a. It’s a small village, a few houses – a few dozen members of the Kabha family. An unpaved dirt road, piles of logs along the way waiting to be turned into charcoal; a chicken house, a sheepfold. The magnificent scenery and clear air make the peaceful scene appear pastoral, though it isn’t. We’re met by warm and open people who gather around to talk. One neglected, needy family, no electricity; they buy tanks of water in Barta’a – like others living in the seam zone. One of the women, 31 years old, sits opposite us with her son. She’s fully veiled; her religious husband demands she dress that way when outside the home.
08:30 New Barta’a (Reihan)
Laborers cross through the checkpoint without waiting; the woman from Muntar to whom we gave a ride is going to Jenin – she goes through the checkpoint in 15 minutes.A few drivers waiting for passengers. One is accompanied by his six-year-old son who’ll enter first grade tomorrow and is excited.
08:45 Hermesh checkpoint
A vehicle checkpoint on the road to Kafin and Tulkarm.Five cars waiting to go to Tulkarm, while cars cross going to Jenin. Cars go through quickly, without unnecessary delays.
09:00 – New Barta’a – Reihan – on our way backMany young people and families continue to come and go through the fenced corridor; they hadn’t seen each other because of the closure during the Jewish holidays; they’re taking advantage of the last day of school vacation to take their children for visits in Barta’a.When we walked back and forth through the corridor we met people waiting for their vehicles to be inspected in the vehicle area – as we passed the gates opened and ten vehicles exit after a thorough inspection. Not all of them are trucks loaded with food. “I’ve been waiting here more than an hour,” blurts out one of them.
'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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