Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
15:15 Hermesh Checkpoint
What looks from afar like a checkpoint manned by the army turns out soon enough to be a checkpoint in which traffic flows unhampered and the soldiers hanging around in and around it are of the Netzach Yehudah battalion of Kfir Brigade (some of whose soldiers have become notorious lately for having abused Palestinians). Here they were only training and practicing the thrilled and rather jolly evacuation of a yelling “wounded person” – from the top of the nearby watchtower. Their commander, a friendly lieutenant from Kiryat Malachi let us watch. He validated what we had heard in the past two weeks from workers at Barta’a Checkpoint, that at Ya’abad Checkpoint a procedure of “disembarking” has been conducted – namely vehicle inspections – for some hours from the morning on.
15:45 Ya’abad–Dotan Checkpoint
The slalom-like passage among the concrete blocks is free but rather crowded at this time. Netzach Yehuda flags decorate both sides of the checkpoint. On our way back we noticed them on all pillbox posts along the road up to the high hill near Amriha.
16:10 Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
Our Machsomwatch colleagues who come here in the morning report the scarcity of Palestinians crossing here lately. There are apparently two reasons for this: 1. A huge increase in the number of annulled permits (our acquaintance from Yamoun village, for instance, has been told by the DCO that there was a computer failure and his permit was returned to him promptly). 2. Workers in Israel-proper are no longer allowed through here in the morning hours. They are directed to checkpoints located more or less on the Green Line (the former border) – Yrtach, Jalame that are sometimes very distant for them, either from home or from their workplace. They are allowed to return to the West Bank through Barta’a Checkpoint and for this reason crowding here in the afternoon has not diminished. We should still find out whether Hareesh construction workers are refused passage here as well.
16:50 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint
Two cars await crossing towards the West Bank. Some pump is active inside the checkpoint compound and perhaps this is the reason for their delay, at least by 15 minutes. At 17:10 we give a ride to a man and a woman residing in Umm Reihan, and leave.
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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