Northern checkpoints: soldiers instead of loopholes
14:45 – We drove up to the old Barta’a Checkpoint and found that it was manned by soldiers. Beneath the village of Dahar El Abed opposite a hole in the fence that had been partially blocked there was a tent made of army camouflage material from which we heard singing.
At 15:00 we passed Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint. All the parking lots were completely full. At the Um A Reihan Junction electrical work was being carried out and perhaps new cameras were being installed, as shown in the photos that we took.
There was heavy construction equipment parked on both sides of the road at the Dotan Junction including a steam roller. We turned at the junction to see what crops they were growing. The fields beneath the tiny village of Jebel Al Akra where farmers had previously grown okra, had now been converted to a field of wheat and the seeds had already been harvested.
15:20 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
Cars were passing without delay, including cars with yellow license plates. There were a lot of military vehicles driving along the road as well.
The gate on the road to the settlement of Maoz Tzvi was locked.
At 15:30 we drove past Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint again. Trucks were waiting in their designated parking area. Many people were walking down the sleeve towards the West Bank.
15:45 – A’anin Agricultural Checkpoint – A lot of people were sitting and waiting for the gate to open. A few of them preferred to wait for three hours rather than travel as far as Reihan Checkpoint to cross. Possibly they have to cross here because this is where they are listed. They already know that the soldiers who are situated here along the fence are not responsible for opening the checkpoint. There was also an army tent located in the olive grove nearby. People reported they had seen the soldiers there. The army jeep with the soldiers arrived and they opened the checkpoint at 15:50, checking every person who crossed to their village. 50 people and one tractor crossed. Someone complained that having the checkpoint open on Mondays and Wednesdays was not convenient for them and that they preferred that it open on Mondays and Thursdays. We met our friend F. who told us that since the large hole in the fence near Um Al Fahem had been closed, his children remained at home with nothing to do. He has 24 grandchildren. “Do you bring them candy every day?” “Candy? They don’t want candy, they want money.” We also spoke with a young resident of Um Al Fahem who had driven his father to visit family in A’anin. “Everything was easier before the fence was built,” he explained.
16:20 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
Everything was quiet and calm. Soldiers from the 50th battalion of the Nachal were situated in a nearby tent. According to Ruthi, this was the unit in which she had served when she was in the HaShomer Youth movement 56 years ago, before the occupation began.
'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 (old agricultural gate)
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Barta'a (old agricultural gate)
On the road from Barta'a to the West Bank.
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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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