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‘Anin, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan

Observers: Nurit Perla, Shula Bar (reporting and photographing) Translator: Charles K.
Jan-02-2014
| Morning

A’anin checkpoint (214)

We arrived at 06:00.  The DCO staff arrived in their white Toyota at 06:20.  The soldiers arrived at 06:35.  The sun was also late peeking through the mist.

The first person went through the checkpoint at 06:43.  He was followed by a man angry at the soldiers and at us.  You’re no help at all.  Not at all.  Why do the soldiers tell us to remove our shirt?  And another shirt?  So I’m wearing three shirts – so what?  It’s cold, isn’t it? 

He said his son failed the dress test and wasn’t allowed to cross, meaning that on the basis of the clothes he was wearing (too nice?) the soldiers decided he wasn’t on his way to work in the fields; that’s what was written on his permit.

 

Tura-Shaked checkpoint (300)

07:15  Men cross to work in the seam zone.  Pupils arrive after 07:30; the little ones are sweet like little children everywhere, but here their smile and “shalom” in Hebrew has added value, warming the heart.  One of the men waiting at the entrance to the checkpoint complains the shed where people wait has gaps on all sides and there’s nowhere to shelter when it rains.  I’m not a soldier, he says, I don’t have to stand here.  But if they make me wait, they should fix the shed.

 

Yabed-Dothan checkpoint

07:45  Traffic flowed without delays.  A pair of soldiers (new to the checkpoint) comes over to find out who we are and hang around for a conversation I characterize as “parallel lines never meet.”  What bothers them is our disregard of the importance of their military service for the country’s security; that we photograph soldiers and embarrass them by putting their pictures on our web site.  As far as they’re concerned, the occupation can go on forever (after all, they were born into it).

 

The route among the checkpoints in the area is amazingly beautiful.

  • '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.

  • 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
  • Ya'bed-Dotan

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    • Ya’bed-Dotan

      This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)

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