Ya'abed checkpoint: What planet did we fall from?

Place:

'Anin

Barta'a-Reihan

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Seam Zone

Observers:

Neta Golan, Shuli Bar, Nurit P

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Jul-13-2022

Afternoon

Anin Checkpoint: Returning home from work

Photo:

Shuli Bar

Taibe Romana checkpoint

A soldier of the fence guard approached us to find out what planet we fell from right into his watch. The checkpoint looks empty. Where are all those coming home? Only when the gate was opened they appeared in the seething sun from their shelter, a camouflage net spread over the army position. A small group of pedestrians and two tractors passed within a few minutes. We returned quickly in order to get to the next checkpoint before the soldiers who drove there on the security track (we crossed Umm Al Fahm).

16:00 – Anin Agricultural checkpoint

The soldiers got there half a minute before us. The crossing began and a few minutes later all the Palestinians were on their way home to Anin village.

16:20 – Ya’abad-Dotan checkpoint

A group of soldiers stood on the pillbox post rooftop at the checkpoint. A young, smiling captain came to check us out. He explained the group on the roof as guiding new soldiers in the designated area. We pointed to nearby Ya’abad village. Does he know when it was founded? He didn’t. 500 years ago, we told him. During the Ottoman Empire years. Did he really guide the new soldiers in this area?

16:45 - Barta’a checkpoint

Afternoon atmosphere: the coffee-vendor children, the peanut stand, Palestinians going home from working in Israel and in the seam zone. Lots of people but no crowding. Cab drivers hunted fares. From here to Anin village, through Jenin, Ya’bad and Arka – half an hour drive, 15 shekels.

Had we not known that the occupation is an elderly monster, with long arms and longer bad intentions, one would get confused and think this an innocent border crossing…

Anin checkpoint, homeward bound after a day’s work

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.

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)