'Anin, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 1.12.08, Afternoon

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

'Anin

Tags:

Slow passage

Detainees

Seam Zone

Observers:

Lea R. and Anna N. S.

Leave this field blank

Dec-1-2008

Afternoon

Translation: Devorah K.

15:40 A'anin CP

A few dozen people are crowding opposite the CP on their way back home to the village of A'anin and there are also some tractors and pickup trucks. At the opening there stands a man with a list of names in his hand; 42 have gone through since the CP was opened. The soldiers are trying to behave courteously, but they are pressured by the large number of people. They try to quiet the loud arguments with gestures.

16:25 - A sick boy of about 15, with a birth certificate and his father's documents, asks to return to A'anin. Since he came without his father, the soldiers do not allow him to go through. In the morning they allowed him to go out to the seamline zone - what has changed since then? We call the DCO. After the third call, the woman soldier tells us that she has passed the matter over to the brigade. Patience, please. Courtesy according to the book that has no respect and no consideration.

The boy turns to the soldier and begs him, 'b'hiatek'. The soldier does not understand Arabic. He says: 'Tell him to come tomorrow with his father; today he will go through at the very end, after everybody else has gone through.' I translate for the boy, he is very nervous and curses quietly. Doesn't a sick boy deserve some consideration?

16:30 - The boy goes through, but not before they warn him in Hebrew that this is the 'last time'. The boy, who understood what they were saying, answers happily in Arabic 'tomorrow sure sure I'll bring him [in your ear]!'

Some people are worried; they do not know how long the olive-picking will be allowed to go on. Should they come tomorrow? Or should they stay home? They ask us. Lea goes to find out. A., the head of the DCO, says that he will come to the olive grove tomorrow to check the crop, and then he will decide.

16:45 Shaked-Tura CP

A resident of Umm el-Fahm wants to buy oil from one of his employees, to help him a bit. But his permit was not renewed and he cannot go through the CP. Since he is not the owner of the oil, he is not allowed to convey it to him, except if he makes arrangements in advance. At this time mostly cars are going through; and a few people are returning home after the day's work. Some little children are playing on the road and no one stops them. Their parents are busy picking olives.

17:20 the new Reihan-Barta'a CP

In the shed people are praying on their knees. Only a few are going through to the seamline zone. When we went down to the terminal through the sleeve info-icon , we saw a meeting of two Palestinians - one going down and one coming up. On the other side of the fence the security guard scolds them and urges them to separate and go on their ways. I ask the man coming up what the other man wanted. He says that he does not know. They were not allowed to talk. Immediately, we hear a loud rebuke: 'If you want to talk, then go up.' We gave up the idea.
In the sleeve there are groups of people coming back tired and exhausted. Since 3 a.m. they have been on their feet. A number of detainees info-icon are waiting on the bench. Afterwards they are sent home. They tell us about the pressure at the Taibeh CP during the morning and ask us to go to observe things there. Now they are waiting patiently - it's impossible to know where they get the patience from - after a day's work. Quietly. They complain quietly and talk quietly about their problems and troubles: permits that have not been renewed, ill treatment of 'go and come again' - a runaround at the DCO, wasted lives, the occupation and what it does to a person and to his soul -- even if the CP is very efficient.
17:30 - there is pressure on the single window / post that is in operation in the terminal. We ask the soldiers to open an additional post. After some time, when the pressure inside has diminshed, the turnstile is opened for a few seconds and people burst in with their booty: bags and picnic boxes and other packages. The last ones in are trapped in the turnstile - with a hand in the seamline zone and a foot already on the West Bank. And there is nobody to take care of the problem that has made trouble for a long time. Above the bridge some armed soldiers are walking, we hear them scolding those returning for every little thing that they see as undesirable behavior. The turnstile and the people trapped in it are not interesting.
17:45 The passage is halted and people crowd near the windows. The workers of the security firm arrive in the CP. They are armed. It is impossible to see or to know what is happening. Those nearby tell us that somebody was caught with a counterfeit document. One sinner and the whole crowd is punished. In the meantime, they wait. Within ten minutes the passage is opened again. Only ten minutes but the waiting that is not defined in advance is nerve-wracking, especially for people after a hard day's work.

18:10 We left.

Location Description

Anin agricultural checkpoint

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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, for periods of time that are growing shorter Lith time. It is meant for Anin farmers whose olive groves have been separated from the village by the fence. 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. At times 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 every day 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 according to which 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 info-icon ), and the fence around it has been broken in several sites.

Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

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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-22-2022

Ruti Tuval

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint

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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).