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‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 23.2.09, Afternoon

Place: 'Anin checkpoint (214) Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Tags: Arbitrariness, e.g. an arbitrary decision
Observers: Ricky Y. and Ruthy T.; Translation: Devorah K.
Feb-23-2009
| Afternoon
14:45 – 17:30
 
14:45 – A'anin CP
The hummer is already waiting outside the locked gate. Two are waiting now in the olive grove in a pile of plastic junk that the soldiers did not allow people to transport last week. A tractor with olive branches for heating in its small wagon, is also waiting. At 14:50 the gate opens and all those who were waiting go through quickly. This morning, because of the stormy weather, only 13 people went out to work. We talk to the soldiers and as usual we complain about how arbitrarily they decide about whether it is permitted to take "goods" (junk and used clothes) through the CP. The CP commander claims that this is within his discretion, and that's it.
We call his attention to the dirt all around. No, he will not clean up for "them". It is as if this filthy barbed wire fence does not belong to the IDF. In the past, they did promise to clean things up. At 15:35 the gate closes. Lea and Anna arrive. They did not go out on the rainy morning shift and decided to come out on the afternoon shift, because they thought nobody was here…. We spend some more time at the CP. At 16:00, A.A. from A'anin arrives. She did not know that the CP closes at 15:30. A quick phone call by Anna makes it possible for her to go through the Shaked CP.
 
16:30 Shaked/Tura CP
A.A. arrives at the CP with us. The soldiers know about her already and she goes through without being inspected. A horse and its rider are not allowed through because of the foot and mouth disease. The soldiers allow us to move around inside the gate. They tell us that a herd of sheep was allowed to go through today despite this.
 
16:50  Reihan/ Barta'a CP
Workers are coming back from work. In the inspection shed, there is one Transit. At five o'clock, an impressive delegation arrives from the terminal. Those who were waiting in the turnstile are asked to go back and wait behind the yellow line. Sharon and Shimeon explain the new procedures to Lieutenant Colonel A'adel from the DCO. Now it turns out that the railing that was put up there serves to separate those entering from those leaving. That is not what the signs that were put up say. But what difference does it make. The important thing is that there is a demonstration of good will and they claim that everything is fine. Sharon claims that most of the people who come back from their work in Israel through this CP, do so against their will. According to him, their Israeli employers "throw" them off here because it is convenient. They would rather go back, he thinks, via Taibeh or Jalameh . On his part, he does them a favor by letting them through here. At 17:30 workers are still arriving in small groups, walking fast, some running, toward the terminal. Now the passage is very quick. The lower parking lot is full of cars waiting for 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.

  • 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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