Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Sun 8.9.13, Morning
Translation: Shelly K.
Barta’ a Reihan Checkpoint
6:45
The lower parking lot on the Palestinian side is not yet full. Everyone who approaches the gate passes directly to the terminal and from there they can travel to the seamline zone using one of the taxis which wait t. We didn’t follow-up on exit time. The line of pickup trucks loaded with various merchandise was plenty long. We counted nine vehicles on the road and another three in the parking lot. All the truckloads were wrapped in blue nylon. When we returned, in about an hour, the number of waiting vehicles was still the same. We saw a sign in English, “Reihan Crossing Point." Not a checkpoint, but a crossing point. Whitewashed words. Whoever goes through the checkpoint westward enters what the army calls the seamline zone which is the area between the separation wall in the east and the green line in the west. The separation wall is a physical barrier, and the green line is virtual. Therefore, there is no real barrier that blocks entry into Israel proper.
Tura Checkpoint
7:10
The garbage container on the way to the checkpoint is overflowing; the smell is revolting and the flies are having a party. We pointed this out to the commander of the checkpoint, who promised to remedy it. The breakdown on the cellular phone clocks this morning messed up everyone. Even the soldiers. The pedestrian gate on our side was open, with apologies, only at 7:11. All those waiting (the usuals at this hour) waited patiently. Even on the other side there was no shouting or arguments. An elderly Palestinian woman in a vehicle wanted to tell me something. The conversation was conducted in body language on my part and fluent Arabic on hers. The old woman (probably about my age) said that she was from Tura, on the other side of the checkpoint. Her daughter is married and lives in Daher el Malec, a distance of 200 meters on the other side of the Tura checkpoint. In order to visit her daughter she can’t drive for about 5 minutes via the Tura checkpoint, but must drive to the faraway Reihan checkpoint and from there to Daher el Malec. The same for the way back to her home. I made a helpless gesture in order to say I understood. The taxi driver who has a permit to pass through this checkpoint returned from the check and it appeared that he succeeded in persuading the soldiers to let her drive through. Sometimes logic works.
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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