Update during Corona: Barta'a checkpoint: between the Purim holiday closure and the Corona plague
Roni Sh. and I planned to go on our usual shift on Wednesday, March 11, but canceled after the Palestinian Authority asked to avoid entering the West Bank following the spreading Coronavirus.
Barta’a Checkpoint March 9 – Purim Closure
I had the opportunity to drive a Palestinian family, a charming toddler and her young parents, from Haifa’s Rambam hospital to the Barta’a checkpoint. They live in Dan village, very close to Jenin and the Jalame Checkpoint which was closed because of the Purim closure. They did not know of this ahead of time and left home in the morning to reach Jalame Checkpoint. After a long wait and telephone calls to the “On the Way to Healing” association that coordinates drives to hospital and back, they realized that the checkpoint would not open, and had to reach the Barta’a checkpoint. They said crossing it was swift.
On the way I thought of hopping over to Anin Checkpoint to pass an envelope over to a Palestinian, but did not end up doing so for lack of time – I reached the Barta’a checkpoint as Anin checkpoint was already closing, and at Barta’a a father and his 10-year old son were already waiting for me, who had to reach Rambam hospital for a complicated orthopedic surgery on the boy. The two live in a village “in the middle”, as the father said, and it is all the same for them whether they cross at Jalame or at Barta’a. The family is originally from Haifa, and now is dispersed between Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. He has a restaurant in Jenin. Before the Separation Fence was erected, he worked at the Hazan Shawarma place in Haifa, a famous culinary establishment. He think peace between the two peoples is no difficult matter, the problem is only that their own and our own political leaders stand in the way…
At other times, very busy traffic of workers and their transport drivers is seen here. But during closure, all is quiet. Very few people descend the netted “sleeve” towards the terminal on their way to the West bank. Apparently only those working in Barta’a were there. Few vehicles waited in the car-park on the seam-line zone side. The car-parks on the hill opposite the checkpoint looked deserted.
Wednesday – March 11 – Anin checkpoint under Purim closure – report by phone
After reading Micki’s phone report of March 10, that the Far’oun Agricultural Checkpoint was not opened on Purim Day, I called our acquaintance M. from Anin village, to find out what was going on. He told me the checkpoint was not opened either on Monday or today, Wednesday. He said no one notified them about this, and people went down to the checkpoint in the morning and waited in vain. In all the years that I remember, the checkpoint had opened on its regular opening days, even during closure. M. did not fail to wish me a happy holiday and good health…
'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), and the fence around it has been broken in several sites.
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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).
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