Zabda: Settler riots in the village streets
At around 23:00 o’clock, settlers arrived at Zabda, a village on a hill overlooking Barta’a checkpoint, and went on the rampage. They broke into houses, yelled in the streets, and caused I don’t know how much damage.
The Hadera police, military police, and security forces (shin-bet? “regular” army) were called and came. The chaos continued until 3:00 a.m., and eventually the settlers were taken away by the police. It’s not clear whether they were arrested or just removed. An officer from the Salem DCO, a Druze, went through the homes in Zabda and calmed the women and children. He asked them not to go out to the street until calm was restored. In response to this act, the residents said “Officer A is good, very good.”
Between Zabda and Barta’a checkpoint, the largest checkpoint in the northern West Bank, there are numerous very large parking lots. According to residents we spoke with, every morning, more than thousands of people/workers with work-transit permits cross Barta’a checkpoint to the seamline zone. I’ve seen parking lots full of cars with my own eyes.
It’s known that if you pass into the western side of Barta’a checkpoint, before you get to the Palestinian locality itself, you can continue to travel into Israel without interruption.
Location Description
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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