'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked

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Observers: 
Tzafrira Zamir, Netta Golan (reporting) Translator: Louise Levi
Jun-5-2014
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Afternoon

 

14:50 Anin

We arrive a little early. The soldiers are on time. Two tractor drivers and two pedestrians pass through the checkpoint. One of the tractor drivers says that permits are not being renewed. His permit will expire next month, so he is worried. He tells us about his two brothers; one is an engineer who got his Master's degree in Paris and has an office in Jenin: the other studied psychology at Birzeit University and works as an inspector for the Interior Ministry of the Palestinian Authorities. His son is studying engineering in Cairo. He himself was sent to study in Amman but didn't complete his studies.

 

A young Bedouin, who lives in a small village at the foot of the checkpoint, is not permitted to enter Anin. His permit as a permanent resident in the seam line zone enables him to pass the checkpoints at Tura and Barta'a but not at Anin. In order to visit his family in Anin (it's ten minutes between his home and theirs) he will have to make a long detour and pay the cost of the ride. The soldiers at the checkpoint are polite and the army policewoman explains to us that he does not show on her computer, which is not connected to the one at Tura. So that's what happens when computers don't communicate.

 

15:30 Tura Shaked

Only one car goes through the checkpoint while we are there.

 

16:00 Barta'a Riehan

Laborers with permits to enter Israel pass through to the West Bank without delay. Others with permits to the seamline zone are delayed at the checking posts next to the terminal. Today there is a line. We time the passage by watching a man in a striped shirt. It takes ten minutes from the moment he passes the turnstile until he leaves the checkpost. You'd need engineering and acrobatic skills to get a suitcase or large packages through the turnstile. One of the people passing through tells us that it's more important to visit the Gilboa checkpoint (Jalama). Few people pass from the West Bank into the seamline zone.

 

16:40

We leave. A line of loaded pickup trucks is already waiting for the checkpoint where goods are inspected to open the next morning.