‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 24.1.13, Afternoon
Translation: Naomi Gal
An exhausting and infuriating shift: ‘Anin Checkpoint was opened belatedly. At Reihan-Barta’a Checkpoint there was a constant crowded queue.
14:50 'Anin Checkpoint
About 20 people and four tractors are already waiting. Three people are praying on the side.
15:00 the checkpoint is closed, there are no soldiers. We called the DCO; they said they would notify the territorial brigade and they will send the soldiers. After a while we called again, they told us that the territorial brigadeinsured that soldiers will arrive soon. We called the bregade, they said they are up to date, there was a stone throwing incident nearbyand the soldiers are on their way to the checkpoint. Meanwhile more people arrive at the checkpoint.
15:30 the soldiers arrived, half an hour late, and opened the gates of the checkpoint.
One man told us that he has a special permit to cross at Shaked –Turah Checkpoint, when the ‘Anin Checkpoint is closed (this agricultural checkpoint opens only twice a week). Despite the distance – an hour and a half drive and 150 shekels for the fuel, still it is important for him to properly tend the 120 dunams (about 30 acres) of olives he owns.
16:00 everybody had crossed, including a family with a veiled mother and two toddlers. Everyone, including several children who were there, waited quietly and patiently. This is hard to grasp.
A rather older reserve soldier says that they arrived late to the checkpoint because children in Araka threw stones at the fence.
16:10 Shaked – Turah Checkpoint
There are all kinds of traffic lights and signs inside the checkpoint but no traffic. One woman crosses into the Seam Zone.
16:25 Riehan – Barta’a Checkpoint (seam zone side)
A woman-Instructor from Givat Haviva (a Jewish-Arab center for culture and education activities), leads a group of students from abroad, and asks us to tell them about MachsomWatch .
16:40 two windows are open at the terminal and there is no queue. This only lasts a few moments. One window closes because of a problem and immediately a line is formed. Every now and then they open the second carousel for workers who return from work in Israel and they pass quickly and with no checking. The passage of owners of work permits in the Seam Zone is slow. Most of the time there is a queue of about 50 people in front of the carousel at the entrance to the terminal. The people are tired and angry. We address one of the guards, he says that there is a hitch and “there must be a line.” We call CH, the head of the Checkpoint. He'd check what goes on.
The line is still in place.
One man tells us that yesterday morning they fired tear gas at the people at Irtach Checkpoint. He does not know why. His eyes were hurt. (In the morning they cross to Israel from Irtach Checkpoint [centeral west bank] and in the afternoon they have to return home from Reihan Checkpoint [north-west west bank.)
17:30 once there is hardly any queue we leave and go up to the parking lot. Facing us workers and families continue to arrive, going down to the terminal. We fear that a queue is forming yet again, but we do not go back to check.
'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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