‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 22.7.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
A’anin checkpoint, 06:10 – Fewer people crossing
People who want to cross at A’nin into the seam zone wait lower down, at the entrance near the village, so we aren’t able to see how many there are. But, in general, the number of people holding crossing permits – whether to work their fields or for other reasons – continues to decline. We put to Abbas, the DCO representative, that this reflects a policy of attrition, which he denies. He says that the Palestinian DCO in Jenin is delaying renewing permits. How long can they delay? People keep complaining that permits are not being renewed for anyone.
The DCO representative: I’ll look into it.
And regarding foodstuffs that aren’t allowed to be brought through here to the village, he says that when he’s at the checkpoint he permits their entry. We understood from what he said, though not explicitly, that the order came from brigade headquarters. That’s what the soldiers also said.
We have the impression that people are being inspected more carefully today. They raise their arms and a soldier inspects them with a hand-held wand. A tractor is sent back. Why?
The DCO representative says, dryly: “His permit expired.”
We persist: “But…he’s a farmer! Until today he had a permit. Why hasn’t it been renewed?”
The DCO representative has his own hypothesis: “Maybe he didn’t apply?”
A laptop computer and a female soldier on the concrete cube . The soldiers run back and forth between the people being inspected and the computer, modern labor union bureaucrats.
This military service is really quite a sight.
Shaked checkpoint 07:15 The flag’s condition reflects the country’s
No one is waiting on the seam line side. On the Tura side – everyone: people, goats, a donkey and a father with two children on their way to Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem along with a volunteer from the HaDerech LeHachlama organization waiting for them at the checkpoint with his car.
A Palestinian from Dahr el Malk, the village next to the checkpoint on the Seam Zone side: I bought a 1982 Subaru in Jenin, registered it in my name, the Jenin DCO certified that I’m the owner, but the Salem DCO hasn’t yet recorded it and for two months they haven’t let me bring it through the checkpoint. They make me go back and forth.
Three flags fly at the checkpoint. Two are apparently the soldiers’ unit flags. We recognize the third, the Israeli flag, torn, tattered – a rag.
Reihan checkpoint 07:50 Palestinian parking area How are things? Lousy.
Six vehicles with agricultural produce already passed from the parking area to the booth. Two more wait in the parking area, key in the ignition. A group of men stand in front of the yellow gate, on their way to the eastern part of Barta’a. A security guard’s voice is heard from the booth:
Five by five.
Close the gate.
hat’s beeping?
So remove your shoes.
Shoes.
Kundara (“shoes” in Arabic)
Pass.
In a few minutes all the groups of five had crossed. A couple remained. How are things? One of them dictates: Things are lousy.
At the end of our shift, on our way home, Netta and I are as usual depressed and place our bets:
Will there be peace? Will there be quiet? In our lifetime? You think so?
'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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