‘Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 30.10.08, Morning
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Translated by L.W
06:25 Aanin Checkpoint We had only just parked when a man, his broken hand wrapped in a towel, approached us. He was on his way to hospital in Jenin. He told us in English that his uncle has land and he always had a pass, but now he is blacklisted for security reasons. He has no one to work his land or harvest the olives. In addition he asks that we act to open a lower gate in the area, closer to the village and the lower olive groves. We have heard such requests a few times because people don’t manage to work more than an hour or two a day, most of their time being wasted going back and forth, on a donkey at best, but usually on foot. The whole time that we spend at the checkpoint, we try to help a number of people who come with requests for passes to harvest olives. We are given lists of names of their children, 20+, who could help, but are at the "ready for terrorist acts" age. A number of tractors pass with people on their way to pick olives in the groves further down the road. Older people also go out to pick because the younger ones experience difficulty getting passes.
It is noteworthy that many of the passes state that return is permitted up to 21:00, but that right is negated because the checkpoint closes at 16:00.
07:25 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
The hut before the gate is full of men who apparently work in Shaked Industrial Area, and are waiting for transport. Three cars are in line to enter. The inspection is slow and the driver of the third car gets out to stretch his legs.
A man coming out in the direction of Israel is very angry. He says that he waited an hour and they drove him mad in the terminal, and would we call and inform somebody that it is not okay. An older man stops and tells us that he has land on the Israeli side, and they will not allow him to bring even one sack of olives or oil unless he requests a telephoned permit (by cellphone) and waits for it a few hours at the checkpoint. He says that the soldier on the checkpoint will not make the request for him over the military communication system, and on the other hand the permit cannot be given on a cellphone – only on army communications. We keep talking with him and it becomes clear that he owns the land on which the checkpoint was erected. When it was built, they uprooted his olive trees. He still has not received compensation for the loss of the olives and the land. Since they grabbed his land, he built a house and dug a well on other land with a partial permit, but no permission to build, and the army destroyed the house and the well on June 19 2006. He appears dispirited and frustrated as he asks us what he is supposed to do in this situation. It was hard to answer that one.
07:50 – a man passes and says that he has been here since 06:30 because the checking is very slow. In addition he complains about the process of renewal of permits. It takes four months to renew a pass, and the process cannot be started in advance, but only after the current pass expires. So there is a long gap during which they cannot work..
Another man stops and asks whether we have a camera to photograph the mud through which people are forced to pass. Both in front and behind the gate the ground is very muddy, and we saw a woman stuck with a pram and small children, dressed nicely for school, getting filthy by the mud. Leah spoke some time ago with the authorities, and was promised that the matter would be dealt with, and a year has passed with nothing changed.
We went to talk to the soldiers and, immediately, the checkpoint commander came over to us. He expressed sympathy and willingness to help, which sounded half sincere and half rehearsed, while explaining that we must, nevertheless, understand the operational motivations – a permanent solution cannot be found (whether concrete or gravel) because when the gate is closed they need to be able to see footprints. It is not possible to lay down planks temporarily because vehicles also cross at this place. Leah suggested a pedestrian lane on the side, or a narrow plank bridge that will not interfere with traffic, but we see that the young man’s patience is running out, and we have to make do with yet another promise that they will try to do something.
08:15 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint
The taxi drivers who are always on the inner side of the checkpoint say that this morning there was a technical hitch with the inspection machine, and the pressures grew. Now the transit is flowing. At the vehicle exit, four cars are in the inspection compound. A man passes by with an explosives detector, and four others stand and watch. Five cars are waiting in line. The situation does not change in the next 15 minutes until we leave.
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'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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