North checkpoints, Soldier: Watch Women? Why Didn't You Say From The Beginning
15:10 Barta’a Checkpoint
We crossed the checkpoint. The car-parks on the Palestinian side are full to bursting.
15:20 Yaabad-Dotan Checkpoint
We waited for A., “Mary’s father”, at the junction – he wanted to give us olive oil produced by his family. Suddenly a car stopped next to us, coming from Mevo Dotan settler-colony: “What are you doing? You are not allowed here”. “And you?” “I live here. Do you want me to spit on you, you beast? I am going to summon Moti (probably the security official)”. So we hastened to shut our window and he drove off.
At the checkpoint – cars being inspected by soldiers wearing helmets with cameras. Waiting lines form on both sides of the checkpoint. During our meeting with A. we suddenly heard a loud boom. An accident. People witnessing it said that a settler-colonist suddenly overtook a whole line of cars whose drivers were patiently waiting to cross the checkpoint, a truck coming in the opposite direction had to slam its brakes and a small van driving behind it crashed into it from the back. The settler-colonist, who no doubt heard the boom, wildly cut to the right towards Mevo Dotan and flew off. They claim that the surveillance cameras on site would verify what they said. Later the young driver who was hit was picked up by a Palestinian ambulance. We naturally walked around and to the soldier who asked what we were doing there, said smiling: “Checkpoint vigil. Just like you…” “Don’t joke with me” answered the cute soldier.
At 4 p.m. we remembered that we must hurry off to Anin checkpoint. At Barta’a our boot was checked. “Watch women? Why didn’t you say so to begin with?”
16:20 Anin Checkpoint
No one near the gate. Soldier still wait for the last workers to cross. At 16:25 a few farmers walk the road down to the checkpoint.
16:30 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint
As usual – quiet and filthy. A worker returning from his day’s work at Shahak Industrial Park tells us that this morning the checkpoint was opened at 7:30. An hour late! In fact the army has long since stopped opening it at 6:30 and we should do something about it.
At 16:45 road lights are suddenly turned on opposite the hamlet of Khirbet Al Ra’adiya, that is not yet on the electricity grid…
16:50 Barta’a-Reihan, seamline zone side
Numerous workers going home, in a good mood. They are fortunate, having earned their daily bread and greet us gladly.
'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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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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