‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Sun 21.11.10, Morning
6:20 – 8:00
6:20 A’anin checkpoint (Ruthie reporting)
People wave to us at the A’anin checkpoint. This morning the area between the gates seems deserted, inspection takes place beyond the middle checkpoint, but a slight movement in its direction brings an immediate reaction from a soldier who scolding forbids us. Four tractors cross in ten minutes, including one renowned for his red hair who tells us of the problems he had obtaining a permit. The one he got is valid for only 6 months. The pupils from the wadi arrive at 6:30. While waiting for the blue van that will take them to school in Reihan, the girls write their names and mine in Arabic and English in my notebook.
6:30 Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint (Leah)
People arriving at the terminal entrance come in immediately. A few come after the night shift in the seam zone. Crossing is efficient this morning. Five pickup trucks loaded with vegetables in the parking lot. A., the driver, tells us about a seamstress from Jenin who’d worked a long time in a clothing factory in Barta’a, and as soon as she got married her permit was cancelled, or taken from her. Meanwhile she’d divorced, has been left alone without family or support, and still has no permit or employment
6:55 Shaked-Tura checkpoint (Ruthie)
The gate is open; a flock of goats crosses. 7:05 Y, driving the blue van, arrives with 22 children. They line up next to Shir, the MP, who greets them with “How about a good morning.” All cross by 7:10 and Y drives on two minutes later, to pick them up again on the other side of the fence. Two armed soldiers follow me in the olive grove next to the checkpoint. They ask if I intend to take photographs. No, at the moment I’m looking for a bus, you see. They leave me alone. Later a soldier yells at me from inside the checkpoint that photography is forbidden. He’s informed of his error. At 7:14 a yellow taxi with 6 male and 6 female students. For some reason, the males go to the front of the line. A soldier calls to them, in Arabic, “One by one.” The taxi driver who’s finished inspection is surprised to see his passengers still by the gate. “Yalla,” he calls to them. Now they’re allowed to enter the inspection room in pairs. Shir is observed paging through a folder that was in a teacher’s car. This morning she’s smiling, and also intellectually curious. A soldier announces the arrival of two children (from the solitary house). Shir stands to receive them. Inspects their satchels. At 7:28 the last female student approaches the inspection room. Youths aged about 14 arrive at 7:35. Shir supervises from the side as their satchels are inspected by two soldiers. At 7:40 the checkpoint is quiet.
7:50 A school in Umm Reihan (Leah and Ruthie at morning assembly)
We’re invited to the school in Umm Reihan by a teacher Leah met at the Barta’a checkpoint and to whom she gave a ride to his school. The children are lined up in the school courtyard. Children read or recite from a small stage situated on the steps leading to the second storey. A march sounds over the loudspeaker. A boy leads brief morning gymnastics. Meanwhile a supervisor arrives and politely explains to us that we’re not allowed to be on school grounds without permission from the Palestinian Education Ministry. The teacher who invited us was embarrassed, and we left apologizin
'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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