‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 20.9.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:00 A’anin agricultural gate
We arrive, along with the children of the Bedouin family which lives next to the checkpoint; about ten children are waiting for their ride to school in Umm Reihan, which is over at 14:00.
Few cross, only about 15 people. Silent, hurried; what can they say that hasn’t been said already? What can they ask for that they haven’t already received? We watch what’s happening at the far end of the checkpoint; people with a valid permit don’t seem to have any problem.
A soldier on guard points his weapon in our direction, toward those leaving for the seam zone.
Abbas, from the DCO, stops on his way to the Shaked checkpoint. He says that they’re beginning to issue permits for the olive harvest that begins in mid-October. He doesn’t know how many. No, it’s not too late (in any case, there aren’t many permits – there’s not much work. There’ll be enough!)
06:40 The new Barta’a checkpoint (Reihan)
Laborers who’ve been inspected wait by the roadside for their rides. Many laborers arrive and immediately enter the terminal. On their way they place their meager belongings on the table across from the inspecting window and pass through the magnemometer. No one mentions the peace talks, unlike in the past when passions ran high. “Life is just a crapshoot over which we have no control,” says M., one of drivers, “so what’s there to talk about? What will be – will be; it’s all in Allah’s hands.” In other words – you can’t be disappointed if you have no expectations. Everyone’s quiet, which is good for the Occupaiton.
Abut six cars and pickups heading toward the West Bank wait for a woman carrying a baby to be inspected.
07:00 Hermesh checkpoint
The checkpoint isn’t manned. People cross freely. We pass the fires and smoke of charcoal manufactories along the road.
07:20 Back to the new Barta’a checkpoint (Reihan)
Vehicles are now waiting at the lower checkpoint, the drivers waiting outside their vehicles in the blazing sun, seeking a little shade next to them. We waited with them for about 20 more minutes. Leah went to find out the reason for the delay. Meanwhile the gates of the inspection area burst open and about ten vehicles emerge, picking up the laborers who’ve been waiting since we arrived to bring them to work.
08:00 We left
On our way back, a man who doesn’t want to identify himself calls to tell us that his employer pays him NIS 15/hour instead of NIS 21, and hangs up.
We should mention the magnificent squill plants we saw everywhere, blooming on the rocky slopes, just like that, in the midst of the Occupation – a sight for sore eyes.
'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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