Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
A’anin Agricultural Checkpoint, Open Twice Each Week
We arrived at the checkpoint at 15:00 and it was already open. Tractors and even a truck were crossing. The vehicles were loaded with used chairs, blankets, and mattresses. Everyone crossed without being checked. This idyllic picture reminded me of days when people were not permitted to bring anything into the village. I recalled broken plastic chairs that Palestinians wanted to bring across but the soldiers did not permit them, and the chairs were thrown on the ground near the checkpoint. There is a factory near A’anin that buys various materials to be recycled, and this is another way that people who have difficulty earning a living can earn a few shekels. People’s olive groves are on the other side of the separation fence and they are only permitted to cross during the olive harvest. Throughout the rest of the year the checkpoint is only open twice each week, so people cannot tend crops such as fruits and vegetables for their own use the rest of the year. The pedestrians crossed first followed by the vehicles and then the checkpoint closed until the following Thursday.
We could see houses in the nearby settlement and decided to go see them from up close. We explained to our guest about the “seamline zone”, how the area was divided into areas A, B, and C, and who is allowed in each category. We explained about the Oslo agreement that now appears strange. We entered the settlement of Shaked to see how people lived there. A large taxi stopped and a woman got out who had come from the pool. She politely asked what we wanted. We explained about the Jewish-owned factories that are located on Palestinian land, and failed to mention that most of the workers in these factories are Palestinians. Later we saw long lines of contractors and employers driving workers who are building the city of Harish.
Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
This checkpoint is filled with unnecessary equipment – a stoplight that leads nowhere, a metal gate with an arm that goes up and down whenever necessary, and as usual, very little traffic. We met a man who lives a few minutes’ walk from the checkpoint in Area A but his tobacco field is located in Area C near the army camp. Soon the tobacco will be ripe and will need to be picked and dried. Logic dictates that he will be able to bring the crop to his home in Tura, but illogically he must bring the tobacco across at Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint that is much further away through Yaabed that is much further away and expensive to drive. The occupation does not care how Palestinians make a living. We could do nothing but give him Sylvia’s phone number.
We passed Barta’a Checkpoint on our way to Yaabed Checkpoint. Evidently a lot of workers have already gone home for Ramadan. There were no soldiers on the road from Emricha to Mevo Dotan or in the watchtower. The yellow gate that is locked as usual and there was no sign of soldiers. We distributed more of Sylvia’s cards.
On our way back to Barta’a Checkpoint we met a family from the Kabha clan. One of the terrorists who killed two soldiers in the attack that took place here was a member of that huge clan that is scattered in East and West Barta’a and the surrounding villages. Now the entire family has had their permits revoked and poured their hearts out to us in Hebrew. They are acquainted with Sylvia.
Five Palestinian women were walking up the sleeve at Reihan Checkpoint.
We drove home through the city of Harish that is under construction.
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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