For whom are the self-righteous signs intended?
Generous rains coming down on Jews and Palestinians locked together in the Semite space of the Middle East…
6-6:20 a.m. Barta’a Checkpoint
We approached the turnstile and… no waiting line again. What, is it the rain? Perhaps all checking posts inside the terminal are operating and there is no need to wait in line? The Palestinians make fun of us: there are simply no permits. They were taken away. And not renewed. At the checkpoint, a sign written in three languages, greeting the people as they enter and entreating them to be nice and disciplined and do what is right for us and then you will be fine, have a swift passage, and no delays. And a nice and safe time in our checkpoint. Oh, just a minute, before you enter, remove your coats and take care to memorize the instructions posted on the sign, or else you won’t be let through. The Palestinian guards, wielding their clubs, are idle at this time. When a waiting line forms they generally walk to and fro keeping their brethren from making trouble, so everyone will be safe and sound. The ground on which the sign stands – and the hundreds and thousands of dunams around it – have legal owners, robbed. Every Palestinian passing through here (three generations of them) – he and the members of his family – carry the bleeding, sharp wounds of occupation. He has been robbed, his land stolen, humiliated, threatened, wildly fined, and expecting to be chased away from the checkpoint for no reason. And he – look at that – does not forget and does not forgive.
6:30-6:50 ‘Anin Agricultural Checkpoint
Apparently soldiers of the Military Police did not read Miki Fischer’s report so they are not aware of the fact that Palestinians are no longer to be punished (by being denied passage) for choosing strange work clothes. “Yesterday we had a conference”, one of the soldiers informs us, “and not a word about this was said.” Few cross the checkpoint here today. Among them two who were glad to meet us and say that their life is just great. As older than 55, these men have the privilege of only needing to show their IDs, so they get around and work in various places.
7-7:20 Toura-Shaked ‘Fiber of life’ Checkpoint
Quiet as expected. 15 minutes later elementary schoolchildren who attend school beyond the checkpoint – in Toura village – begin to arrive. Some their dad’s car, and others on foot, armed with umbrellas.
Coffee at Umm Al Fahm
An acquired habit: at the little bakery at the Mei Ami entrance to town we enjoy a cup of hot coffee and human warmth alongside parents and children who have come in to buy sandwiches for school.
7:50-8:25 Tayibe-Roumana Agricultural Checkpoint
It’s cold and wet. For the same Military Policemen we saw at ‘Anin, too. Within a quarter-of-an-hour everyone got through beside two Palestinians who apparently got mixed up while choosing their clothes this morning. They return to Tayibe village in K.’s golf cart – which didn’t get through with him today, nor he with it. Here too a faded but very friendly sign advises strangers to stay safe.
'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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Tayba-Rummana
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Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence. The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530). (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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