Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
05:20 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
The line reaches only as far as the center of the parking lot and surprisingly order prevails under the supervision of the Palestinian supervisors in their black uniforms. The parking lot is filling up. Groups of 100 people pass through the turnstile every two minutes. Several women pass through immediately through the other turnstile.
06:05 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint
The soldiers are present, but they are in the watchtower and traffic moves through without delay. The area around the tower is surrounded by a high wall. A soldier in the tower told us politely that there are soldiers in the area below and that the wall is there to protect them against Molotov cocktails. The only area that can be crossed is the road. There is an unpaved road running alongside blocked by a dirt embankment that is only used by the army. A small commercial vehicle that arrived from Jenin stops next to us. It is driven by an old and cheerful friend of ours who works at the carpet factory in the area of the settlement of Shaked.
When we returned to Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint we saw A on the bridge leading to Zibda next to his motorbike, which has been converted into a portable coffee vendor. He had sold coffee in the lower parking lot for two weeks but was forced to leave to make way for the Jewish coffee vendor. Now he is trying to make a living here next to the parking lots where some of the Palestinians coming to the checkpoint prefer to park. We had coffee together with other clients and it was encouraging to see his optimism despite his poor health.
The trunk of our car was checked when we left for the seamline zone.
07:05 – Tura Shaked Checkpoint
According to people the checkpoint opened a half hour ago on time, but people are crossing slowly. “Only ten people have crossed so far.” R., who usually brings leftover food from party venues in Um Al Fahem to needy people in Tura, explained that last Saturday he was not permitted to bring the boxes of food through the checkpoint because it was cooked food. He was forced to drive around and bring it through another checkpoint further away.
We left at 07:20 when we saw that everyone who had been waiting had already crossed.
We drove to the site of M.’s marble cutting factory in Barta’a that had been demolished by the IDF. We saw the new site where he plans to build another factory and permitted us to report that he had received financial help from various sources. Merchants who provide marble from Turkey evidently donated a significant amount of money so that he can continue to work with them and an Israeli client also contributed money so that he could purchase new equipment. As we reported, some of the equipment was destroyed and some was confiscated. Rachela, who is also active in Yesh Din (Volunteers for Human Rights) will try and find out what happened to the confiscated equipment and if it can be returned.
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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