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ברטעה-ריחן, טורה-שקד

Observers: Rochalle H., Noah L. (reporting). Translation: Yael Bassis-Student
Jul-05-2014
| Morning

 

0740-0800  Tura-Shaked

We were late this morning and saw only a few people and a small number of cars crossing fast from one side to another, without delays, but later in the day we had found out the cause for the small number, and it had nothihg to do with us being late.

The area around us is tranquil, the weather is great, the tobacco fields are in full blossom.

 

0810 – 0845 Barta'a-Rihan

The car park is packed, the coffee peddler is missing (Ramadan), and relative to other days much fewer people go through the sleeve and the fenced lane leading to the terminal . Only one window is open and seems that all go through swiftly. This is true for vehicles as well and the inspectors sit outside, resting.

We asked them what is happening today and they tell us that the Barta'a market is closed due to the Ramadan.

It was obvious that there were significantly fewer people today in comparison to other Saturdays.

On the way to our post we drove through Tura and in the end we returned home by the same route, through Wadi Arra. The road is open and quiet.

 

Only later that evening I heard on the news that there were riots and that fires broke out there, the protest of Arab residents of the area to the Israeli military reaction to the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens.

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  • Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

    See all reports for this place
    • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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