Northern checkpoints: checkpoints, gates, loopholes - what's unnecessary?
There are checkpoints and gates, but mainly there are breaches in the separation barrier. Are the checkpoints and gates no longer necessary?
06:00 – Route 611 from Harish to the Barta’a Checkpoint turnoff
There was a booth where coffee was being sold at the entrance to East Barta’a and a few drivers. Near the tiny Palestinian community of Loxor many cars were parked that belonged to residents of the West bank who had come to cross the fence to work in Israel. On the other side of the fence on the sides of Route 611 and the security road transport vehicles were parked in an orderly manner and were waiting for people to cross through the hole in the security fence. Further on near the turnoff to Barta’a Checkpoint more cars were parked and waiting for people coming from the security road.
06:20 – Reihan Barta’a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side
Despite all the people who were crossing through the holes in the fence, the checkpoint was also full of activity. Many transport vehicles were parked here and workers were coming out of the terminal through the fenced – in sleeve to meet their transport to work in Israel and the seamline zone. A few people were waiting under the shed in the corner of the parking lot
06:35 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
The gates of the checkpoint were still closed and would open at 07:00. Only the driver waiting in his car cared. The rest were crossing through the hole n the fence. One of these was a resident of Jenin who worked in the Shahak Industrial Zone nearby. If he waited for the checkpoint to open he would be late for work. Crossing through Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint would cost him money for transport and is not logical. The Easiest . The best solution for him is to cross through the hole in the fence – even for those who have a work permit.
06:50 – A’anin Agricultural Checkpoint
Soldiers from the military police arrived early before 07:00 and opened the gates of the checkpoint for M. and his son so they could cross with their tractor. Other residents of A’anin crossed earlier through the nearby hole in the fence without the help of the soldiers.
07:10 Um El Fahem, Entrance near Mai Ami
Many cars were parked near the turnoff from Route 6535 (the road that ascends from Route 65 from Wadi Eron to Mai Ami) to Um El Fahem ). They were waiting for people who were crossing through a large hold in the fence between A’anin and Um El Fahem. Many people were crossing and getting into transport vehicles.
'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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