‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 18.8.08, Morning
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05:30 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint
People coming out of the sleeve report that the checkpoint opened on time this morning, at 05:00, but the pace is particularly slow, in their opinion, for the last week, but this morning even more so.
We listen to a man who served a prison term and a provisional sentence for being illegal in Israel – the "provisional for a year" having been extended twice without trial (and this prevents him from getting permits). Another man complains about retention of his severance pay by the lawyer who represented him in Israel.
06:10 Aanin Checkpoint
At the junction for Aanin we already meet three tractors pulling wagonloads of men, women, and children, who attest that the gate has been opened on time and traffic was very fast. Somebody comments that we were not there exactly when the gate has opened….
At 07:00 people were still passing through the checkpoint, and they reported that 20 odd were still waiting.
07:15 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
Three cars in the direction of the Seam Zone waiting for passengers. Seven men waiting at the turnstile to enter the Seam Zone. People coming out say that today is okay. The checkpoint opened on time and passage was fast. Vehicle checks taking three to five minutes. A shepherd on a donkey, and his flock, go through without waiting.
07:45 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint
We are delayed at the checkpoint because our guest, an Israeli Arab born in Kfar Kara, living in Haifa, is not allowed to enter without a "kapchi" permit (whatever that may be?). A series of phone calls doesn’t help. The Bartaa bus, which has arrived together with us, leaves with women and children.
Our guest, who knows some of the people concerned – goes off to phone, forgoes the descent to the lower parking lot and we ask them to open the gate for us, but today we need a special permit. Meanwhile, people passing us in the sleeve report that there was a serious block in the terminal. Cars are being checked and are passing in the checkpoint to our left. At 08:25 (after 40 minutes!) We are finally allowed to enter – without our guest.
Eight people come to the lower entry gate, and go straight in. Seven more also enter without delay, but are compelled to sit on the ground inside the sleeve. At 08:30 the sleeve is empty. At 08:35 a van and two cars are at the inspection point, and two loaded pickups go on their way into the Seam Zone. I. says that he has waited for an hour this morning at Dotan Checkpoint.
08:45 – at the upper parking lot we are greeted by a driver with "what’s going on at the checkpoint this morning?" He contends that the last of the workers at the sewing plant passed at 08:00. "Every quarter of an hour one worker." At 09:00 a man comes out with a small child. According to him they passed in two minutes: "There’s no one inside." At the entrance to the terminal – one window is functioning and, true, almost no one coming in or out. The cold water installation has vanished. The security man thinks it is being repaired. |
'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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