‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 25.12.08, Afternoon
Neither the people who have to pass through the checkpoints, nor the soldiers who have to operate them, enjoy being outside on a cold, rainy day like today. We arrived at the checkpoints at a relatively quiet hour of the day, and everything was calm and quiet.
14:10 – Rehan-Barta’a
There was no traffic going through the checkpoint when we arrived, but the parking lot on the Palestinian side was filled with cars. A group of about ten seamstresses returning from work in Barta’a arrived, and we waited to see how long it would take them to make their way through the terminal and come out the other side. They came out five minutes later. People told us that there was only one window open in the terminal, but that people were moving through without any delay.
15:45 A’anin
When we arrived the gate was already closed. The checkpoint no longer operates each daily: now that the olive harvest is over it is open only on Mondays and Thursdays for a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the afternoon.
We were told that about 30 people had passed through the A’anin checkpoint that day. We saw a large pile of plastic bags filled with hay and a pile of roof tiles on the side of the road that people had intended to take across to the Palestinian side. They had not been permitted to and had to abandon them on the seamline zone side of the checkpoint.
16:10: Shaked-Tura
When we arrived there were two cars waiting to pass through the checkpoint, and an army jeep standing on the other side attesting to the fact that there was a visiting army officer present.
A woman and her small children got out of their car and walked through the rain to be checked before the father could pass through with their car and collect them on the other side. Yes, he answered my question, the children have to be checked, too, and no, he could not drive them across even in the rain. They had to walk through the checkpoint. He also told us that some time ago his mother had left home with an expired permit instead of her newly-issued one. (Possibly she did not notice because she was in a hurry, or could not read the permits and could not differentiate which was current and which was outdated.) When she reached the checkpoint the soldiers would not let her through or allow her to call home to ask him to bring the proper permit. He added: “I’m not permitted to use a cellular phone at a checkpoint.” We asked the driver of the waiting van what the situation had been like lately, and he said that there had been no particular problems or delays. “The people who run the checkpoints should be good people – those who represent the country.” We agreed, and added that it would be preferable that there be no checkpoints at all.
We left at 16:30.
'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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