Northern Checkpoints: Are agricultural permits being systematically refused?
14:50 – A’anin Agricultural Checkpoint
It was very hot, and difficult for those fasting during Ramadan. Ten people and one youth were waiting in the shade of the olive trees and the shed for the checkpoint to open. Two tractors loaded with scraps were waiting nearby. A man told us that his son’s agricultural permit had been confiscated with the claim that he had been working in Baka al Gharbiyeh and not in the family’s fields. The father had been sick at the time and his son, who also had an agricultural permit, had taken his place. The father explained that his son had been told to go to the Salem District Coordination and Liaison Office after 30 days and his permit would be returned. He went, but his permit was not returned. Our friend M. told us that they had cancelled permits belonging to three other people. He didn’t know why. Two weeks ago two other people had their permits cancelled.
Soldiers from the military police arrived a few minutes before opening time and opened the checkpoint on time at 15:15. People crossed quickly.
15:30 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
The gates of the checkpoint were closed. We forgot that because of the longer hours during the month of Ramadan there the checkpoint is closed between 10:00 and 15:15. The opening hour arrived, but the soldiers did not. 14 people and three cars were waiting to cross to the West Bank and others were waiting to cross to the seamline zone. People told us that the soldiers were often late.
At 15:40 the soldiers arrived in a civilian vehicle and began to get organized. At 15:50 things began to move. A woman and boy crossed to the seamline zone and waited for a car to pick them up.
16:10 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
The parking lot was completely full. There were no Palestinian attendants. Many people were coming back from work. People asked us how we were. It is easy for us because we are not fasting. People are happy that the month of Ramadan will end next Tuesday and the festival of Eid al Fitr will begin. Two people were praying under the shed. At least there was shade.
'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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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