‘Anin, Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
5:50 a.m. Barta’a Checkpoint
Photo: Tami Ritov
Lower checkpoint – as we arrived a cab driver approached us who habitually drives workers to the checkpoint. He explained that since 1992, when he was kept in custody for 50 days inside Israel, he has been GSS blacklisted, prevented from entry into Israel. He asks us to help him regain his permit.
The parking lot is orderly and not overfilled. As we observed the further parking lots in the dark, on the slopes overlooking the checkpoint, we saw no cars.
The waiting ling was very short, apparently thanks to the swift passage through the turnstile: longer periods of time enabled each group of workers – about 100-140 at time – to cross quickly. At times, the green light of the turnstile continued flashing even as the whole group was already inside. Our friend A. (the former ‘usher’) explained it was merely a matter of chance. The Palestinian supervisors had nothing to do.
However, in the yard between the turnstile and the terminal entrance a waiting line accumulated while people proceeded quickly. When it slowed down, about 60 workers crossed the turnstile.
The upper parking lot: the flow of workers was regular. Three checking posts functioned inside the terminal. The kiosk was busy with workers who enjoyed a short coffee and bun break before their workday. Beside the small area in front of the kiosk, more seats were added to the ‘sleeve’ corner.
6:40 a.m. ‘Aneen Checkpoint
photo: Eliya Levi
photo: Eliya Levi
As we arrived the checkpoint was already open. One of the farmers said that today it was opened on time – “today things are going fine”. Two soldiers approached us, wanting to know what we were doing there. They seemed to be satisfied with our answer and turned back.
The checkpoint was functioning with no special holdups – about 20 farmers crossed, and several women. Most of them on foot, some on tractors, with platforms filled with olive harvesters. Two donkeys and 6 tractors went through.
Last to cross was Rahma Yassin, inhabitant of ‘Aneen whom we know. She crossed the checkpoint with a donkey, and asked us to help obtain a permit for her son. Harvesting olives by herself is too hard a job for her alone. Her son’s permit was annulled, she says, along with that of husband, her late husband, may he rest in peace. Eliya gave her telephone number so she could contact her.
While Eliya photographed the Palestinians passing through, a young man approached her and asked to post the picture on his Facebook page. His FB name is “End of the Road”. Perhaps Facebook will help normalize relations? For the time being, at least FB is free of checkpoints…
An elderly farmer approached us and asked our help in obtaining a permit for his 64-year old wife. He knows she must go to the Salem DCO but the task is too hard on her.
At 7:20, after Rahma and her donkey passed the checkpoint, it was closed.
7:25 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint
Normal traffic. Workers, including well-groomed women and cars from the West Bank, and schoolchildren from the Seamline Zone. To our question, one of the younger workers waiting for transport explained that today the checkpoint was functioning properly: “Good soldier”. They’re not checking the children. Yesterday was chaotic because checking the children at one checking post delayed the entire line.
Passage proceeded comfortably except for two instances: a particularly wide military vehicle exited the checkpoint while accelerating in a frightening manner that does not suit the conditions of the road and the people on it. This car also stormed back into the checkpoint, showing no consideration for the people on the road and alongside it.
The second mishap was the strong stench that rose from the garbage dumpster, which was not overflowing this time.
7:40 We left when traffic through the checkpoint was down to a minimum.
Down the road, two yellow school buses were crossing into Shaked settlement. Conditions for schoolchildren here and schoolchildren there. Another symptom of the abyss differentiating the two national identities of children.
'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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Tura-Shaked
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Tura-Shaked
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-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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