‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 16.6.08, Afternoon
14:30-18:45
14:30 – 18:45 14:30 Aanin Checkpoint
Children, youths and men are waiting, next to seven tractors, for the gate to open. The soldiers arrive a few minutes after 15:00. A smiling soldier greets the transients with “What’s Up?” and after 20 seconds “Have a good day.” Nevertheless there are occasional delays because of problems with the lists. The smiling soldier informs his partner “There was a mess here in the morning – remind me to give a lesson on these matters…” Afterwards he promises us that, from next Sunday, a shady roof will be installed for the benefit of people waiting, and they also intend to clean around the checkpoint and in Aanin itself “because the children play there in dirt.”
At 15:35 people are still arriving at the gate.
At 15:45 all the waiting people, and three tractors, are asked to move forward beyond the gate being closed behind them. After two minutes, someone arrives at the locked gate and we promise his comrades that the pleasant soldier will open the gate for him – not to worry. But it doesn’t help. The soldiers ignore our cries. At 16:00 precisely the inner gate is locked and the soldiers quickly drive away. The latecomer goes back the way he came.
16:15 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint
In the Palestinian parking lot, many cars waiting for workers returning from their jobs. Three cars are being checked, all doors and engine compartments wide open.
At 16:35 we notice, from a distance, workers returning from the Seam Zone/Israel and calmly entering the upper sleeve to the terminal. They come out to the lower Palestinian lot within three to four minutes. The three cars are released from inspection at 16:40 and three more move in to the empty spaces. They come out after exactly 30 minutes.
In the parking lot, a tired worker “complains” that “there aren’t enough checkpoints – can’t you do something?” We laugh…
14:45 – a very young woman with a suitcase emerges from a taxi. She is a student of dentistry in Jenin, and is returning home to Kfar Kara for two weeks vacation till Summer semester. We are curious to see how long she will be in the terminal, so we go up and wait for her by the upper exit. At 17:15 an angry man comes out, claiming that he is late for his evening shift in Shaked because of the suitcase of some student which is being sent back and forwrds on the conveyor belt. At 17:30 the student’s father, a courteous plant owner, arrives and demands demonstratively to know what is going on. Meanwhile many workers are arriving from work, among them V. (hugs and kisses) and proudly shows us his permit. The line to the West Bank is not moving.
Perhaps 120 men waiting at the entrance to the terminal.
At 18:00 it evolves that a computer has crashed. We volunteer to notify the waiting people the reason for the delay. “Yes, yes, sure, the computer again…” After half an hour the workers begin to reach the lower lot. We leave.
At our request, the student’s father calls us at 18:45 to inform that his daughter has finally emerged (since 14:45).
18:45 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
We leapfrog to the checkpoint, just to see that it is open, though deserted. A young couple comes from the direction of the West Bank. She is pregnant. They travel with us to nearby Dahar el Malkh.
'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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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