Mevo Dotan (Imriha), Reihan, Shaked, Sun 22.5.11, Morning
Translation: Bracha B.A.
Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
The gate is already open. Two groups of soldiers are walking up to the checkpoint. The banker arrives with two students and the school principal arrives with three. Abbas from the Liaison and Coordination Administration is in the area. The flock of goats is also there, but the inspection room is closed. Everyone is waiting for it to open. Meanwhile schoolchildren arrive in the white Transit and the soldiers receive them.
The first person going to the seamline zone comes out at 07:20. The computer is not working and every day things are a mess. "Yesterday we only got out at 08:00. Why don't they open the checkpoint at 06:00?" On the other side teachers are talking with the soldiers and finally go through. At 07:40, after Abbas intervenes, everyone goes through and the checkpoint is empty.
08:00 Mavo Dotan Checkpoint
The reservists manning the checkpoint tell us to take care of ourselves because even though they are in charge of security in the area they are not directly responsible for our security. They stop cars and peek inside and quickly let them continue on their way. There has been a pillbox erected and a concrete U-shaped structure for a guard post similar to the one at Tura.
08:30 – Reihan-Barta'a Checkpoint
On the way to Reihan we pass six pickup trucks with goods waiting on the road and seven cars waiting in front of the first inspection point. The parking lot is full. Seven cars drive out of the inspection point at 08:15. After 4 minutes some of the cars are sent back to the parking lot because of the lack of space, according to one of the guards. We hear loud voices coming from the terminal, from the direction of the seamline zone, giving people instructions.
A., a graduate student studying law at Bir Zeit, says that yesterday (Saturday) he was detained at the checkpoint for 3 hours, and consequently missed an important test. He then received a summons to report at the checkpoint on Sunday at 9:00. The guard tells him to wait meanwhile. "How long is "meanwhile"? "I ask. "Don't worry, no more than 3 hours," replies the guard. A. will report on what happened to him later.
At 9:00 six cars emerge from the inspection facility and are followed by several pickup trucks.
At 9:25 4 more cars drive out towards the seam zone and we left.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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
See all reports for this place-
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
-
Ya'bed-Dotan
See all reports for this place-
Ya’bed-Dotan
This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)
-
