You never ask the occupier “why”. It’s not polite…
Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint 6 a.m.
Usually this is the most crowded hour at this checkpoint – the time of leaving the Occupied Palestinian Territory to go work in the ‘seamline zone’ and inside Israel proper. But today the place is closed!! . Passage has not yet begun, the Palestinians in the lower car park sit on the pavement, and wait for 7 o’clock, perhaps the powers-that-be will open the gates at 7 o’clock. Why 7? Why ask ??
Today is ‘Id Al Adha – Feast of Sacrifice- that begins with fasting. So obviously many would not go to work today.
‘Anin Checkpoint 6:30 a.m.
On the sides of the road leading to the checkpoint a small garbage dump has been growing: broken pieces of furniture, waste, plastic bags blowing in the wind and many garments strewn all over. These are the presents that we have been bringing and obviously people do not wish to possess. I feel that so far we have already passed on to Palestinians tons of rags. Personally I have a hard time with this sort of donation.
Two men approached us, one has not managed to renew his farmer’s transit permit. He is told that the olive grove and farming land of his family is too small to justify a permit for him as well, as his father has such a permit valid until January 2019. But the father is old and the son wishes to come in his stead. Why is he not allowed? Why ask?? He has been to the Salem DCO as well as to the Palestinian DCO. The same reason has been sounded: the family’s area inside the seamline zone is too small to justify another farming permit for the family. Says the pleasant-mannered man: “We have 12 dunams here, but at the initial registration we didn’t manage to produce the documents and prove the real size of our area.” That’s why.
Toura-Shaked Checkpoint 7 a.m.
The checkpoints is opened at this time, few people and few vehicles pass from the West Bank into the seamline zone. Teachers and schoolchildren are still on holiday and the feast leaves many at home.
Tayibe-Roumana Checkpoint 7:50 a.m.
The lock hanging on the chain that closes this gate opened smoothly this time. We wished to say something about this to the soldiers, but they are not interested in communicating with us. Across the fence only a single person waits for the checkpoint to open. At 8 a.m. this happens and he as well as a few others crossed over. Among them our usual passenger to Umm Al Fahm, an elderly man who has trouble walking, and knows a single Hebrew word: Shalom (‘peace’).
'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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Tayba-Rummana
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Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence. The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530). (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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