The northern checkpoints: Is a military police officer trying to remove us from the checkpoints?

Place:

'Anin

Barta'a-Reihan

Tags:

DCO (District Coordination Offices)

Walls and Blockades

Observers:

Hagar Dror-Meliniak)Photos) and Hannah Heller Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Jun-14-2023

Morning

There is already a gate in the wall closing the Aanin checkpoint

Photo:

Hagar Dror

At the Aanin checkpoint, the wall will soon be closed

Photo:

Hagar Dror

7.30 – 6.00

Yesterday a fatal shooting incident occurred on Route 585, the road from Jenin to Tulkarem on which Yaabed-Dotan Checkpoint is located. Five people were injured. The shooters came from the nearby town of Yaabed.

Barta’a Checkpoint – The checkpoint was functioning as usual. The parking lot was crowded with cars taking workers from the West Bank to their jobs in Israel and the seamline zone. Most of the workers had come from the village of Kafin southeast of the checkpoint. They were unable to travel west on Route 585 today because the road was closed because of yesterday’s incident. Most of them will arrive late today. Yesterday after the shooting the checkpoint was closed to people coming from the West Bank to the seamline zone or Israel, and only workers crossing in the opposite direction to the West bank were permitted to cross..

A’anin Checkpoint – The construction of the wall is being carried out rapidly and the part that will serve as an enclosure is nearly completed. A huge sophisticated iron gate has been placed there but it could not be opened today so crossing took place through a small side door. 17 people crossed but the tractors had to turn back.

We met an officer from the District Coordination and Liaison Office named Yitzhak who falsely claimed that the road leading to the checkpoint was a closed military zone and that we were forbidden to be there. He has recently attempted to prevent women from Machsom Watch to observe the checkpoints in the area. There are no signs in the area stating this, and if the Palestinians are permitted to drive there than why aren’t we? We showed him permits issued to us by the IDF spokesman stating that we were permitted to be there as a human rights organization, but that did not satisfy him

Tura Checkpoint – The checkpoint was manned by soldiers, but people were not crossing. There is a school in Yaabed that many students from the seamline zone attend and they cross at this checkpoint. However, today the school is closed and the matriculations examinations that were scheduled to take place have been canceled. Workers from Tura can only get to work in Israel and in the seamline zone through Barta’a Checkpoint, which is much farther... it is still not clear whether the checkpoint will be open tomorrow.

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).