‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 4.7.11, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:15 A’anin
I said – “You’re the cops”
About 50 people, plus children and tractors, stand at the middle gate of the checkpoint – a relatively large number for this checkpoint. Most are men. They say that new crossing permits were recently received. The soldiers are new: people are being inspected between the middle gate and the gate into the checkpoint. The soldiers are registering them by hand. We didn’t see any problems.
A man we know comes over to us, very upset, and says that on Thursday (the checkpoint is open only on Monday and Thursday) a female soldier refused to let him through. She claimed that his passport photo in the computer was different from the photo in his ID card. He shows us his ID to prove that it’s him. For seven years he’s used this ID to cross, and suddenly he’s not able to! He’s so offended that he’s shaking and has difficulty speaking: a young female soldier armed with a “large” weapon doesn’t allow him to reach his land. “She” forbids him! She instead waves him off to the DCO. Without finding out whether or not they’ll receive him. He, in fact, went to the DCO, where they told him that the person in charge of permits will be there only next Tuesday. “Today you were lucky,” they told him, “that the soldiers agreed to let you through.”
Palestinians’ time? What’s that?
M. says that cows from the Israeli Arab locality, Ein Sahala, graze in A’anin’s olive groves, and there’s no one to turn to. If someone complains (snitches) to the DCO, the cows’ owners cut down his trees or burn them. On our way back we did see the cows calmly grazing in one of the groves.
06:40 The soldiers get ready to close the checkpoint and we continue on our way. On the road we see a 13-year-old boy with a huge backpack. We urge him to hurry to the checkpoint so he’ll be able to return in time, and follow in the car. The soldiers refuse him entry, say he should wait until they return at 15:00. In the summer heat. Wait. A discussion with the DCO doesn’t help; the soldiers have already driven off. Finally, one of the officers at the DCO agrees and suggests that the boy cross through the Shaked checkpoint. We drive him to Tura, give him carfare and – to his great fortune – he went through.
One man presents documents from a hospital in Afula regarding problems with his “broken” back. He has limited mobility, but even so he’s the only one permitted to reach his lands. His 19-year-old son is prevented from doing so. We called the DCO. They promised to deal with the matter.
Someone else, who just came through the checkpoint, sees us talking to the first man who’s holding the medical documents, hurries and takes out his own documents and shows them to us. He says, to our amazement: “I said to myself, ‘You’re the police.’”
07:20 Shaked-Tura checkpoint
The crossing routine. Everything proceeds as usual; most of those arriving, with permits, came by 07:00. Three teachers from Jenin on their way to Barta’a. Matriculation exams in physics are being held today.
Dahar al Malek is festively dressed. One of the men got married yesterday and the wedding continues today. “Come, come, of course you should come.”
08:15 Reihan-Barta’a
6-7 pickup trucks wait on the road to be called for inspection and about three more wait in the parking lot. There must be a way to make the inspection go faster, to carry them out in such a way that the produce doesn’t have to sit in the summer heat. People go through the fenced corridor constantly; they’re crossing at a reasonable rate. Laborers wait beyond the checkpoint for rides to work.
The occupation machine is well-oiled!!
08:30 We left.
'Anin checkpoint (214)
See all reports for this place-
'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
See all reports for this place-
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
See all reports for this place-
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
-