‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 4.5.09, Morning
Translation: Devorah K.
6:05 A'anin CP
While we were on our way, a round yellow sun rose, and in the background the sky was gray. Opposite us, there are five soldiers including a man from the DCO; fifteen people are waiting. Those coming out have a note in Arabic which says that such and such a person must return through the same CP on the same day. The novelty is that the lists are updated in the computer and not manually. (What joy to know that we have achieved this!)
We would like to return three empty containers of oil to Abu S. In answer to his request, we filled them with water to water the young olive trees that he has planted. But — oops … the man did not arrive. His permit has not been renewed. Thus, the water dries up in the containers and the seedlings are in the grove; and the man is also drying up in his house after the IDF decided, for our security, that he has nothing more to do on his farmland.
Little by little the sun disappears from sight, perhaps because of the shame that the occupation causes. And in its stead, a frantic storm came up, the like of which we have never seen. On our way, we met a resident of A'anin who told us his troubles of shortages, of shame and disrespect, about suffering and hunger. He remembers the time when he worked and made a living for his family. And now he doesn't even have a shekel to buy some food. We listened, it was painful and we were helpless. It is hard to hear these stories over and over again.
While he is talking to us, the child standing beside him repeats every sentence. Who will we blame if tomorrow that same little boy will demand restitution from us?
07:10 Shaked-Tura CP
The CP is open and the first of the little children are already waiting. We try to begin a conversation. They are embarrassed. In another minute, they go through to the soldiers, as they are used to. One by one they open their schoolbags wide and then go on. Somebody who is coming out tells us that today the soldiers are good, really good. It is exam time; many pupils go through to the West Bank and workers are coming from the West Bank to the seamline zone. One of them tells us that he received a permit to go to work on his lands for only four months. In the past he used to get a permit for two years. A. tells us the same thing — that his permit was confiscated and then returned to him (when we intervened), but only for four months instead of the two years that they had in the past. Sa., the teacher from Umm-el-Reihan, about whom we reported here, is still under arrest. Our joy at his being released on bail — was premature. His trial will begin at the beginning of June. Lea is in contact with the family and with the lawyer and she will report on it. A storm begins and clouds of sand rise up in front of us.7:45 Most of the workers have left — and so have we.
08:00 Reihan-Barta'a CP
A strong wind rocks our car, 80 kph. It raises clouds of sand and dust that fill every corner. The toilets on the upper level are filthy and make you throw up. The road that leads to the CP, on the other hand, is cared for beautifully.Today they did not inspect containers and pickup trucks, perhaps because tomorrow, they will begin to inspect in the new compound up above, under the roofs with the pointed turbans.A few dozen workers and tradesmen (mostly young people) are going out to work. Only the routine is killing. 08:40 An unpleasant day in every sense of the word. We left.
'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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