Reihan, Shaked, Sat 8.8.09, Morning
Translation: Bracha B.A.
Shaked-Tura Checkpoint 07:30-08:00 (Approximately)
There is constant but light traffic of pedestrians and vehicles in both directions. People coming through tell us that there are days in which they have to wait for an hour or more, and there are days when they go through quickly. Today people go through quickly and the soldiers sound polite (from a distance). Today there is also a woman from the military police at the checkpoint.
Five young people are waiting in the area of the checkpoint in the sun who tried to the seamline zone without passing through the checkpoint. (It is not clear to us how) and without permits. We were told that they are waiting for an answer as to what will happen to them. By the time we considered intervening, all of them were released, but were returned to the West Bank and did not enter the seamline zone.
Reihan Barta’a Checkpoint 08:10-09:00 (Approximately)
On our way to the upper entrance to the terminal in the sleeve we encountered large groups of people coming out from the terminal as if a traffic jam had suddenly dispersed. People entering the seamline zone told us that they had to wait in the terminal for more than an hour. No one was waiting next to the turnstile and two windows were open in the terminal. Until we left people coming out said they had gotten through in a few minutes. There is a lot of traffic in both directions, and a lot of families in holiday clothes are entering the West Bank. The soldier in the first window closes the turnstile occasionally to control the number of people entering and exiting (the turnstile serves people going in both directions) but people go through quickly.
Passengers in cars entering the West Bank are checked next to the vehicle checkpoint, and a few cars are waiting to go in the opposite direction from the West Bank to the seamline zone. Cars are also not being delayed. (In the direction of the seamline zone cars must enter a closed facility which makes it difficult for us to observe).
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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