'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 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’bed-Dotan

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Ya’bed-Dotan

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)

Loophole model: Route 611

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Loophole model: Route 611

A magnificent loophole in the separation fence. Like this loophole, many more along the entire barrier of separation.
Route 611, was to the shuttle station to Israel. It leaves the city of Harish westward along the northern seam zone and reaches the intersection with road 596, close to the Barta'a Reihan checkpoint.
Most of the road passes the separation barrier and the military road (in the east), and also in front of the loophole and more and more loopholes open and wide gaps in the fence on the Palestinian side.
There were loopholes in the fence from when it was established in the early 2000s, but they were hidden and far away and with no easy access. Since the army turned a blind eye to the pirated and free entry into Israel, the passage has become visible, people arrive at the breaches in private vehicles and taxis on the side of the West Bank and got on shuttle vehicles on the Seam Zone side. Once passing the fence, there is no barrier to Israel.

Who benefits from the loopholes? One can only assume that allowing the mass crossing of the fence saves manpower (soldiers) the army and significantly increases the entry of builders and other necessary work power - into Israel.

In the northern region, most passers-by are construction workers who work in the city of Harish, but also other professionals who prefer the shortcut that saves time and money, and as one of the passers-by said: "Passing like free people..."

Mar-22-2022

Ruti Tuval

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint

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Road 611: Soldiers guard breaches in the fence

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint