Following the occupation of the northern checkpoints

Place:

'Anin

Barta'a (old agricultural gate)

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Breach in the separation fence

Observers:

Marina Banai and Ruti Tuval (photography) Translation: Naomi Halsted

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Jan-9-2022

Afternoon

The old Barta'a checkpoint

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

The Anin checkpoint is deserted but wide open

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

The system road in front of Daher al-'Abd

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

The village of Anin in the setting sun

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

A car arrives from the old, small checkpoint that was shut down years ago, when the large one now in use was opened. A while later, the friendly driver will tell us that he does transports throughout the seamline zone. The road at the checkpoint is blocked by a heap of rubble and a large breach in the fence beside the gate is wide open for pedestrians. On the security road, a small new tractor is towing a plow. Maybe it’s sweeping over the security road or being used for work in the olive orchards.

We pass by the Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint. Someone is walking alone through the sleeve info-icon . The parking lots are full.

15:15 Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint

Four stray dogs are wondering round the area of the memorial. They’ve disappeared by the time we’ve parked. Cars are travelling between Jenin and the Barta’a checkpoint without being held up. An Israeli flag is flying atop the pillbox with Givati Patrol emblazoned in large letters. An officer and soldier come down towards us. We introduce ourselves and the soldier says: “Yes, regrettably. I’ve hears about that (‘against the occupation’),” and adds “it’s they who are the occupiers,” pointing towards the large town of Ya’bed (whose history dates back to 1596). The officer hasn’t heard of us and doesn’t care. He warns us against terrorist attacks and tells us about an attempt to run him over, right here. “And what did you do? Did you shoot him?” we ask. “No, he ran away.” “So no soldier was hurt?” we ask. “You wish” he replies and goes away.

15:30 Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

Beside the seamline zone, we met the driver we’d met at the old checkpoint as reported above. His friends are laughing and hinting that he transports other things, not just people. He’s angry. We calm him down. “We haven’t heard anything.” A man who has a disability in his legs and a paralyzed hand and walks with a cane enters the pedestrian lane. Everyone passes him. Why isn’t there a shorter route for people like him?

In the industrial zone being developed next to the Reihan settlement, a large number of cars are parked in neat parking bays in between paved sidewalks. We realized that the enormous building built there is a logistic center that has been moved from Netanya and which does manufacturing and marketing for food chains. “Land is cheaper here.” The speaker looks like a senior official in a suit, proud to let us know that he earns a decent living from a reputable owner, but he has no idea why the land is cheaper here. No, he hasn’t heard of the seamline zone and doesn’t know that it’s over the Green Line. “What? Reihan isn’t in Israel?” he asks innocently, or feigning innocence.

On the way to the Tura-Shaked checkpoint, two donkeys wander along the road. A young woman arriving from the West Bank is picked up. A car drives through to the West Bank without hindrance. It’s quiet, filthy, and stinks of poultry excrement.

On the way home, we took a look at the 'Anin agricultural checkpoint although you can’t pass through it today. Nevertheless, the front gate is open wide. The middle gate is securely locked and protected by bollards that can be pulled up to let tractors pass. The famous breach is wide open 24/7 for pedestrians for every reason. Behind it is a large pile of dirt.

We revel in the sight of the village of 'Anin glowing in the sunset.

Location Description

Barta'a (old agricultural gate)

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On the road from Barta'a to the West Bank.

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).

Ya’abad-Dotan

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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)