'Anin, Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Thu 28.7.11, Afternoon

Place:

Jalama

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

'Anin

Tags:

Seam Zone

Observers:

Tzafrira Z., Neta G. (reporting)

Jul-28-2011

Afternoon

Translation: Bracha B.

14:40 – Jalameh Checkpoint

We drove two men and a girl in a red jumper to the checkpoint.

There is a long line of cars belonging to Israeli Arabs returning from a visit to the West Bank. There are very few people at the pedestrian's entrance near the terminal designated for Palestinians. One vehicle arrived carrying women who were returning from work in Israel.

15:25 – A'anin Checkpoint

There are still four tractors, two women and four children waiting. The women and one of the children got on the last tractor and three children are still waiting. Evidently two of them, who live in Um al-Fahem, were accompanying the other one who lives in A'anin. He had somehow crossed in the morning without his parents and did not know whether the soldiers would let him return home. We were also not sure, but the soldiers let him go through quickly.

15:45 – Shied-Tura Checkpoint

A man arrived from the seamline zone in a fancy car with his two nephews. He bought the car a month ago and it is still not registered at the Shaked-Tura checkpoint's computer, so he had to drive to Reihan-Barta'a checkpoint and cross there instead. The man said that his cousin bought a car a year ago and it was also not entered in the computer yet. Evidently the computers at Shaked Tura and Reihan Barta'a do not communicate with each other. Another man arrived and was angry that he was not told to drive through despite the fact that there was no line. He claimed that the civilian management at Reihan Barta'a does a better job than the soldiers. Another vehicle arrived and there was more traffic than usual at this hour.

16:15 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint, the Palestinian Side

We went down to the Palestinian parking lot to meet one of the people for whom Sylvia is trying to get a permit to enter Israel and eliminate from the blacklist. To our surprise there was a Palestinian ambulance waiting at the checkpoint and when we crossed back to the seamline zone the ambulance was still waiting. We were told that the ambulance would cross when the vehicles which were inside left the inspection facility in ten minutes, and we never found out when it was finally allowed to cross.

16:45 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side

At the entrance to the terminal there were notices in Arabic with a Tel Aviv telephone number. We asked one of the people who spoke Hebrew what they said, and they explained that it was the phone number of Sharon, the manager of the checkpoint.

Two of the workers in the terminal are arguing loudly and calling each other "idiot." The presence of the Palestinians does not seem to bother them and somehow their work continues. There are seven detainees info-icon crowded on the bench and they are released within a few minutes.

At 17:10 we ascended the sleeve info-icon to the parking lot on the seamline zone side and the ambulance finally leaves the inspection facility – an hour after it arrived!

Workers arrive with their transports and descend the sleeve to the terminal. Two people stop to talk to us. They sell charcoal in Barta'a and have business permits and are returning to their home in Yaabed, but they have to cross in the morning at Jalameh. After a discussion with the Liaison and Coordination Administration we learned that they have business licenses in Israel but not in Barta'a, which is in the seamline zone. They have warehouses but no stores in Barta'a. Obviously they need to cross at a checkpoint from the West Bank into Israel and not into the seamline zone. The Liaison and Coordination Administration told them to go to the Liaison and Coordination Administration in Jenin in an attempt to get rid of them.

We left the checkpoint at 17:25.

Location Description

Jalame

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North of Jenin, on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. A big terminal for the passage of Palestinians with permits allowing entrance into Israel and goods into Israel operates there.
In the course of 2009 the terminal was opened for the passage of Israeli Arabic citizens into the West Bank. Since October 2009 they may pass in their cars.

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).