'Anin, Barta'a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

'Anin

Tayba-Rummana

Observers:

Neta Golan, Shula Bar Translator: Charles K.

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Jun-4-2015

Morning

06:00 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint (regional terminal, open daily)

Very many Palestinians wait for transportation to work in the upper parking lot. From time to time the revolving gate in the lower parking lot stops turning, apparently to regulate the rate in which people go through. These are people who have something to get up for in the morning.

06:00 ‘Anin checkpoint (an agricultural crossing, open twice a week)

The soldiers arrive on time and five minutes later people begin crossing. Five farmers on tractors went through and about twenty more on foot, including a number of women heading to a family gathering. We met Yassin who enjoyed the “sweets” the occupation provides to those 55 and older: he can go through the checkpoint using only his ID. They offer presents; why shouldn’t he take them?

A young man from ‘Anin tells us about the family’s olive grove very near the checkpoint. Someone cut down five trees. They suspect the hooligans from Ein Sahala. He asks us to help him obtain a crossing permit to a checkpoint open daily so he can come to work his grove a bit and protect the olives. He’s ready to relinquish his right to cross through this checkpoint.

07:15 Tura-Shaked checkpoint (“fabric of life” checkpoint, open daily)

A small, congested checkpoint, crowded with all possible unnecessary apparatus. The soldiers’ garbage overflows the bins. Apparently the IDF has no budget for someone to clean. Some teachers from Jenin cross to proctor test-takers in the school in Umm Reihan. They remember bygone days when they could travel unhindered around Israel. A small boy is moving around inside a car whose motor is running. The driver arrives. No, he’s not worried that something will happen to the boy. “We have too many children, don’t we?” he says cynically, “One more, one less, what difference does it make, right?” And without missing a beat he tells us about a new procedure in which the vehicle is no longer listed on its owner’s documents; all the vehicles and their owners are listed on a separate page. “Today there’s a list, tomorrow the soldiers lose it. They don’t allow the car to go through. Is that fair?”

08:05 Tayibe-Rummaneh checkpoint (an agricultural crossing, open twice a week)

We were five minutes late but the Border Police arrived on time. Relatively few people went through; two were turned back because they didn’t appear in the list of those who’d returned through here on Monday. That identifies them as having been illegally present in Israel and cancels their permit. They must obtain new permits at Salem. An elderly couple from Rummaneh are on their way to Umm el Fahm on foot to visit their son and daughter-in-law. The woman, handicapped, walks with difficulty. We gave them a ride to their son and were invited for a little coffee with them and their daughter-in-law. In 1967-69 he’d been a policeman in Jerusalem. Those were the days.

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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Tayba-Rummana'

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Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm.
The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence.
The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence.
The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening.
During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530).
(February 2020).

Mar-11-2024

Shuli Bar

The huge wall at the Taiba Romana checkpoint. The checkpoint is closed. But people pass

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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).

Tayba-Rummana

See all reports for this place

Tayba-Rummana
is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm.
The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence.
The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence.
The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening.
During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530).
(February 2020).

Mar-11-2024

Shuli Bar

The huge wall at the Taiba Romana checkpoint. The checkpoint is closed. But people pass

View the full album