Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
Tura-Shaked 07.00
The CP is open. On the Tura side a group of people stands near the turnstile. Cars which come from the West Bank to the Seam Zone are being checked and then pass, and so do the cars in the direction of the West Bank. 4 young men enter the checking building and pass to the West Bank. Schoolchildren pass without being checked. The traffic flows without hindrance. We are told that in the village it is quiet and that everything is fine.
Barta'a Reihan 07.30
Lots of workers have already passed from the West Bank to the seam zone, and are now waiting for transportation. They sit on the curbs, among the many cars which load workers, mainly to Barta'a. At the vehicle CP each car is meticulously checked, and a dog is also used. We went down to the lower parking lot, full of cars and people, some around the cars, others at the gate to the turnstile in an attempt to reach their workplace quickly. There is also a group of women standing near the cars.
In former reports it has already been pointed out how absurd it is that on Fridays and before holidays (like today) when the workday is short, the CP is opened at 07:00 and not at 05:00, as it does on ordinary working days. Since people pass from here to work in Israel, one sees here particularly bad things. Crowding, climbing on the roof of turnstiles, etc. One Palestinian complained that his permit had been taken from him because he had climbed up the roof. On this side there are two turnstiles, most of the time each one lets people pass to a different direction. Today both let people pass to the seam zone. At one turnstile, 50 people pass at one go, and at the other, because of its structure, only two. When people want to cross to the opposite direction this detains those who wish to leave for work in the seam zone. Other delays are caused when military cars arrive and pass through the terminal, and then the people’s passage is halted. Notwithstanding all this, according to our timing, the passage per person lasted a quarter of an hour.
We stood near the slow turnstile when one of the women came and stood by the side to assess the chances of entering and reaching work. Slowly her colleagues joined her and we asked the men to free the passage for them. It didn't require much effort to convince them. One of them removed the men and invited the women to pass. We met them at the upper terminal exit and they greeted us with "shtarat," meaning, more or less, "well done." So Israeli women can cooperate with Palestinian men for the good of Palestinian women.
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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