‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 25.10.12, Afternoon
Translation: Naomi Gal
12:00‘Anin
The soldiers are already here, opening the checkpoint gates. About 20 people and three tractors are waiting to return to the village. They are returning earlier because it’s the eve of a Holiday – Eid el Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice). Some children return with their fathers – schools were closed today. We are told that in the morning around 80 people crossed and that tomorrow, Friday, the checkpoint will be closed for the Holiday. During the rest of the holiday the checkpoint will be open during the regular hours of the olive harvest season.
12:15 The waiting people have already crossed, two more tractors arrive. Open until 13:00.
12:25Shaked – Torre
Little traffic on both sides of the checkpoint.
13:00Reihan – Barta’a, on the Palestinian side
The Palestinian parking lot is filled to capacity; we park in the makeshift paid parking lot up the road. They even have a makeshift kiosk selling coffee, tea and cigarettes.
Shouts are heard from the main parking lot. Anticipating the holiday, many bring their cars, trying to earn a few pennies giving people rides, but most people own cars, the number of licensed taxis is increasing, and there is not enough work for all.
Workers are returning early from their jobs at Barta’a or the Shaked industrial zone; many are carrying gift baskets, trays of fruits and vegetables,Coke bottles and even flowers. A group of seamstresses are returning from work, they all carry new blankets nicely wrapped; holiday gifts.
14:00 At the entrance to the terminal, seam line zone side
Four young detainees are sitting on a bench at the entrance to the terminal. They want to go back home for the holiday (apparently they do not have permits to stay in Israel or in the seam line zone). They have been waiting for an hour already. After 15 more minutes they are summoned inside. We did not see if or when they crossed to the West Bank.
One can sense the holiday spirit since the workers are returning early. We wish them Happy Holiday and they reciprocate with greetings and smiles.
14:25 We go up the sleeve. Workers are on their way down. A family in holiday outfits is on its way to the terminal. One of the children is taking his sweet time, enjoying the playground slide next to the parking lot on the seam zone side.
'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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