ברטעה-ריחן, טורה-שקד
06.00 Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
Many workers who have already passedthrough the checkpoint are waiting for their transportation, and many others arrive from the terminal, without their usual colorful picnic-boxes, because of the Ramadan fast. Cars come out of the inspection area.
The kiosk owned by the settler from Hermesh is open. At some distance from the window, in the direction of the “sleeve” (the enclosed corridor) there is a sheet of thick blue plastic, and behind it some youngsters are drinking coffee (which is forbidden during Ramadan). This morning there are no freshly baked pastries, apparently out of consideration of those who are fasting.
The cold-water fountain next to the turnstiles is dripping, a plastic bag covering the leakage.
We are told that there are no problems inside the terminal. We go down on foot to the Southern car-park, on the Palestinian side. About a quarter of the car-park is not being used, because the drivers are afraid to park in places where their exit might be blocked. The car-park is almost full and many people have parked at the side of the road leading to it. The truck parking lot is also full.
06:45 Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
We arrive at the checkpoint slightly ahead of the soldiers, who leave their base on foot at 06:45. In the meantime we chat with a charcoal worker who is returning from his night-shift in Daher el Malech. His employer allows him to work at night during the period of Ramadan, so that he can sleep during most of his fasting hours. For seven hours each day he fills sacks with charcoal and receives for this 100 shekels, without complaint.The soldiers agree with us as usual that it would be a good idea to empty the garbage container. They will speak to whoever is in charge.
There are fewer than ten people next to the turnstile. The checkpoint opens on time, and at 07:02 two women come out. A worker who comes out after them tells us that the soldiers stationed at this checkpoint now are really OK, especially the one who operates the computer in the inspection room : “He doesn’t fool around.”
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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