ברטעה-ריחן, טורה-שקד, יעבד-דותן
15:30 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
The checkpoint looks quiet, dirty, and sleepy as usual, but suddenly it wakes up: a tractor returns from the field, a woman and a young girl return from the West Bank, and cars pass from one side to the other. The “Fabric of Life” Checkpoint, such as it is.
We pass by Barta’a Checkpoint. In the long (enclosed) sleeve that leads down from the parking lot to the terminal, there are already many workers on their way home. The parking lots are full of cars, as are the two sides of the adjacent road. About ten private cars wait on the road to the inspection station.
16:00 – Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint
The face of the checkpoint has changed little; they moved the cement cubes and therefore there is less zig-zagging; the gate that blocked the bypass road is open now (the gate is thrown on the ground). Thus, the cars that arrive from the direction of Area A, are able to bypass the checkpoint via this road. Transparent cubicles, whose function is unclear, were installed on two large cement installations, and a new-old shed appeared on the spot. Two soldiers come down from the pillbox in order to express their concern about our well-being. According to them, two weeks ago, someone was run over.
16:30 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint, the Palestinian Side
We paved our way through the crowded and noisy parking lot. We hear complaints about laborers who work in Israel and who are prohibited to pass through this checkpoint. They have to cross via breaches in the fence at 4:00 am.; sometimes they are caught by the Border Patrol, and there were instances of shots fired at their legs. We are amazed by all the cars that pile up in the expanse of the checkpoint. At the exit, the female security guard who sits in her booth, says with enthusiasm that the checkpoint is open to all those who have permits, from 5:00 am to 5:00 pm. After 5:00 pm, the passage to the West Bank is via the vehicle checkpoint.
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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