Northern Checkpoints: The army begins to close the breaches in the separation fence.
15:15 – 16:30
On the way to the checkpoints, from the road next to Barta’a, we see army vehicles next to places in the separation fence, where there are breaches.
Anin Checkpoint – 15:15
The checkpoint is closed; there are cars with soldiers in the area, but no Palestinians arrive. The breach that was in the fence was closed with barbed wire. We and the army leave at 15:30.
Tura Checkpoint – 15:45
A few cars with passengers cross over quickly in two directions.
Barta’a Checkpoint – 16:00
Hundreds of workers return from working in Israel and go down the sleeve of the checkpoint (the enclosed passage to and from the terminal). One of them tells us that he is returning now from his two-week stay of work in Israel, with lodging, but is very worried about the future. The breaches are fixed, according to him, and leaving at the checkpoint is still limited only to those who work in the seam area.
A car with Israeli license and driver from Barta’a, Sharkia (a cousin of the owner of the car), stops at the vehicle checkpoint. Along with him, a yellow taxi is stopped.
Today also, the door of the crossing from the West Bank to the seam zone was closed (as I already wrote about in the report from 20.08.2020). In the upper parking lot (in the seam zone), we met a resident from Jenin who is a merchant and who has now established a store in East Barta’a. He is waiting for his partner who is supposed to arrive from the West Bank. The partner wasn’t able to cross the closed checkpoint and notified him by telephone that they will meet next to one of the breaches. Only residents of the seam zone who return from the West Bank with a vehicle, can cross over via the vehicle checkpoint. As yet we haven’t succeeded in understanding if the pedestrian checkpoint is open only in the morning, or if the afternoon closing is only for short periods of time.
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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