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Reihan, Shaked, Sun 13.7.08, Morning

Observers: Chana H, Ruthi T (reporting)
Jul-13-2008
| Morning

05:55 Reihan Bartaa Checkpoint
"I don’t know what’s happenning today – we’re passing quickly." All those going through the sleeve this morning are content. Yes, we remember that many are prohibited from crossing… 18-25 people pass in five minutes (about 250 an hour). S. tells us that on Tuesday, despite the presence of a DCO officer and the checkpoint manager, transit was so slow that it came to blows. Someone blamed the slowness on "orders from above…"

06:00 – Pickups with produce are already being inspected. Some ten men are waiting at the entrance to the terminal in the direction of the Seam Zone. Students who arrived by taxi, in the direction of the West Bank, are being checked, with their belongings, at the vehicle checkpoint. We are forbidden to photograph security people, not even from a distance. We were ordered to delete photos.

06:55 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
The gates are locked. Checkpoint is not yet manned. On the Seam Zone side, not a soul. On the other side, 15 people and two cars waiting. At 07:00 soldiers drive up. The checkpoint opens within a minute. Reinforcements arrive on foot within five minutes..

07:10 – 12 men waiting by the turnstile. A car arrives at inspection and is through in less than two minutes. Two soldiers prevent us photographing close to the fence: "It’s a military area." A sergeant approaches and announces: "It’s okay, permissible." Only one man passing in the direction of the West Bank – without check. The first transients to the Seam Zone – two children, pass without check. Delay in the inspection rooms for people going to the Seam Zone is now five minutes. Prolonged time compared with previous observations. What’s happening we ask: "New soldiers," a man says. "They’re dividing up bacclawa," his friend jokes.

07:20 – a taxi arrives. The passengers pass to the West Bank without a check. The taxi is through in eight minutes.

07:30 – a flock of goats and a donkey plus rider are waiting at the inside gate.

07:45 Reihan Bartaa Checkpoint
Taxi passengers pass, each in turn at a signal from the hut, putting their magnetic cards into the scanner. The bus from Bartaa arrives on time. Opposite – one passenger car in inspection. Four pick ups with produce move in for inspection. A quick enquiry elicits that this is the second group (since 06:00). The lower parking lot is now empty of pick ups. At 08:10, three more arrive. As already reported, the Bartaa market is currently weak and the quota of eggs has been halved. We leave at 08:15, but not before stocking up on delicious sweet figs.

Size 43 shoes needed for a worker…

  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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