Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
14:40 –Barta’a Checkpoint
We drove past and all the parking lots were crowded and full.
14:50 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
On our way to the checkpoint we noticed a car driving towards the shortcut to Yaabed. The yellow gate at the checkpoint was open. In the middle of the checkpoint, next to the pillbox, there were a police vehicle and a gray-haired policeman with a soldier guarding him. They were “dealing” with a driver going from Area C to Area A. There were long pipes on the roof of his car wrapped with blue tape, but he didn’t have the red warning triangle required when carrying long cargo. The driver’s father, who had arrived from the direction of Jenin, told us afterward that the sign had fallen off on the way. He was warned by the policeman that next time the offense would cost him a fine of NIS 1000. He still did not know how much he would be fined this time. After they left the policeman continued to stop cars randomly. People’s ID cards were checked and we asked whether the regulations at the checkpoints had been changed. We were answered rudely: “Don’t talk to me.” The soldier, who wore a small yarmulke, was sent to photographs us and our car. Another IDF mission completed.
15:20 – Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side
A lot of workers were arriving from various places and we walked down the sleeve with them. Opposite the gate, where Israeli cars crossed, we observed a driver who had been asked to pull over and stand to one side. He was a student from Nazareth who was studying dentistry in Jenin. He forgot his student ID card at home. He soon received a photo of his card on his phone, showed it to the guard, and continued on his way. A driver from one of the settlements shouted at us that we were destroying the country.
The terminal was open and two young women from Barta’a a-Sharkiya returned from the West Bank. When we were going back a young man approached us and showed us a message that he had received on his phone in Hebrew and Arabic about a change in the employment of Palestinian workers beginning today. Yes, we had heard about this and were pleased for him. He is the father of two children and the sum of NIS 2500 that was deducted from his salary each month was a lot of money.
16:00 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
The checkpoint was filthy and quiet as usual. A tractor returned to the West Bank and a woman was waiting under the filthy shed.
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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