Tura checkpoint: The lonely house is no longer lonely
14:30 We drove to Amriha to deliver a bundle of clothes, and continued to Yabed-Dotan Checkpoint. A lieutenant and a private (nice ones) came down from the watchtower to check who we were, made do with our short explanation, and went back to their post. Vehicular traffic at the checkpoint was steady, no delays. Usually, the soldiers stay in the watchtower and do not come in contact with the Palestinians.
15:30 At Anin Checkpoint (agricultural checkpoint) there was no one. We asked Mahmoud, the fellow with the tractor, that almost only for him the soldiers come to open the gate (he cannot cross through the breach in the fence with his tractor). Apparently, he did not go to work this morning because of the rain. In the DCO they told us that no one went over to the seam zone this morning so they will not come to open the gate in the afternoon. Clearly pedestrians went in and out of the seam zone all day through the breach.
16:00 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint, and a surprise
At the Toura checkpoint nothing ever happens, almost. So we went over to the lone house nearby and found out that the brothers are building a fancy villa right next door. The lone house belongs to a Toura family who did not agree to abandon its land, adjacent to Shaked settler-colony that was built there arbitrarily. The price of their insistence to live there completely isolated, is that they were detached from their village by the Separation Fence, and had to cross the checkpoint every time they came and went. Now good times are here. They have just been paved a private track to the house (we heard it was the PA that financed the work), and were allowed (yes or no) to build another house on their land (a most rare permit). What else goes on there that we know nothing about?
'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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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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