Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
06.10. Barta’a – Reihan checkpoint.
The car –park on the seamline zone side is full of workers on their way to work, mainly in building the town of Harish, and of their transport vehicles. In the carpark on the Palestinian side there are still empty spots which will be filled later by the cars of Barta’a merchants. Trucks fill the area that is assigned to them. The single turnstile revolves without stop, as everyone arriving passes immediately. We are told that also in Yabed there are no delays, and we hurry on to Tura.
06.40. Tura – Shaked checkpoint.
They tell us that today everything is ‘kawakazi,’ the Palestinian equivalent of “America” says Marina – that is, “Ahla.” The checkpoint opened on time and passage was quick and efficient, unlike recent days, says K., when it looked as if they were deliberately delaying workers hurrying to their work. An assertive military policewoman demands that we stop photographing. “Not even Marina’s plait with Tura in the background?” “NO! nothing! This is military area.” At least she did not make us erase what we had already filmed. When we comment on the litter all around – looking like the green IDF plastic bags inside the checkpoint – they quickly rush to clear it.
Next to the checkpoint grow plants of “donkey’s spittle” (squirting cucumber) and we joke with the locals about this name.
In the end we tried to help a young woman from Tura, who had fled from her husband, an Israeli Arab, and left behind her 10 month old baby that she wants to get back. If one of our colleagues knoiws of a similar case and to whom to approach (“Moked” are not able to help), we would be happy to hear from her.
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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