Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
15:00 Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
This Wednesday there is more pedestrian and vehicle traffic than on other Wednesday afternoons. Cars and army jeeps enter and leave. People are waiting for rides to the villages in the seamline zone.
Three family members who want to visit a sick relative in Um-a-Reihan are waiting for a ride. They have to return before the checkpoint closes, because they do not have a permit to stay overnight, but they cannot leave because their relative who is supposed to drive them can only come through Tibeh. It is already 15:30 and he has not arrived, and they must be back by 17:00.
15:45 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
Here, too, there is a lot of traffic of cars, trucks, and army jeeps. Soldiers in the jeep at the side of the road and in the pillbox are not stopping cars, and traffic is moving smoothly. A soldier questions us, as usual.
16:15 – Reihan – Barta'a Checkpoint
On the way we pass the crowded parking lot where cars are parked almost one on top of the other. We wonder how they maneuver to exit and enter the parking lot. Cars are also parked bumper to bumper along the road. People are hurrying home at the entrance and in the sleeve, and a few people are entering the seamline zone. All the inspection points are operating and there is no delay.
A mother and her three daughters are hurrying home, but wait until there are no men in the turnstile so they will be able to pass through.
People crossing report that it is very difficult and extremely crowded at Irtah in the morning. Others report that lately there have been no problems at Jalameh.
A., whom we have met before, reports that the turnstile still hurts people's legs because the bottom rung is too close to the ground. He asks us to request that the bottom rung of the turnstile be removed.
M. tells us that he has asked for a permit to work in Israel, but found that he was blacklisted by the security forces and he does not know why. He asked us to help and we gave him the relevant phone numbers and we hope someone can help.
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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Ya'bed-Dotan
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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)
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