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‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 3.1.08, Morning

Place: 'Anin checkpoint (214) Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Tags: Cab drivers
Observers: Leah, Sima S.
Jan-03-2008
| Morning

Guest: Hadas

06:30 Aanin Checkpoint

Pale light of dawn and, to our surprise, not too cold, nor rainy. An army Hummer stands waiting, engine running, and alongside it an officer and a soldier are checking the IDs of an adult couple. Another soldier, rifle pointed at passersby, is waiting in the hut. After ten minutes the couple pass. The man's permit has expired two days ago, and the woman's is good for another year and a half; nevertheless they were allowed through together, el-hamdillila.
Hadas enters the military compound and photographs innocently. The officer shouts from a distance that she is to leave immediately because it is a closed military area, and if she doesn't, he will call the police. She apologizes that she did not know, and asks us whether she can photograph outside (there is a beautiful sunrise). We tell her she may, and she continues to do so. And again the officer shouts from afar that she is to stop, otherwise he "will confiscate her camera." She stops.
Meanwhile, people are passing and soldiers are checking, slowly, while raising the permits to the light.
One of the people in tne  lune says he has been waiting since 05:00, and asks why do the soldiers check so slowly? Indeed, why?
We leave. The Hummer engine is still running…

07:10 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint

One soldier in the box. Two checking. People entering the inspection hut, and coming out quite quickly. Children going to school, quite calm, and not so cold.
We continue to Reihan.

07:30 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint

Cars and a few people at the top of the sleeve. We continue to the Palestinian parking lot. One pickup truck loaded with vegetables is waiting to pass, and five taxis are waiting for passengers. Walid comes to us and receives newspapers in Hebrew and Arabic which he likes to look at and read, and a pair of gloves so that his hands won't freeze when he rides his bike. I also distribute the sacks of clothes and toys according to the list which is updated all the time. People are grateful for them, and there are no more arguments. Somebody says that because it rained heavily yesterday, they did not go out to pick vegetables and fruit, so there are fewer trucks than usual. There are still many trays of eggs in the hut waiting for transfer. Everybody is waiting… We move down the sleeve, and the people coming out say that "today is okay": they are not being put in rooms, and here too there is no sense of delays. We go on to the market in East Bartaa, where we meet someone from Kafin who says that the checkpoint there is no longer manned, and people can cross freely (?) And reach Bartaa Checkpoint.

  • '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.

  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין: פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
      View the full album
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