A shift in Barta'a through foreign eyes
We were delighted that our lovely guest agreed to write a sort of report from her fresh point of view instead of (our) another routine report.
Dear Ruti, dear Rachel,
Thank you so much for taking me with you this morning to your work monitoring the checkpoints with Machsom Watch. I was shocked to see how this beautiful landscape – and of course, the passages and livelihood of Palestinians – are being interrupted and parcellated by roadblocks and checkpoints, watchtowers. At checkpoint Tura we saw a grandfather picking up his little 4 year-old Jamilla from a frightening place of fences, barbed wires and rubbish all over.
On our return via checkpoint Barta’a, strangely, the fact that I was discovered by the border guards as an outsider without papers, led us to an area of border checks that was probably also unknown to you. For the Palestinian families that we met there and that spoke to us, it was a miserable routine. Well hidden under large tents, cars could be checked for special searches. When we were asked to leave the car under harshly spoken instructions by guards, a dog was sent in to sniff through belongings. Passing a bag search and a waiting area moved us further from visibility into dirty waiting areas. Two Palestinian ladies with two children clinging to them looked so worried, it was painful to see. When you ask the arriving workers about their treatment, many of them answered with a friendly “hakol beseder” (all is good). Well nothing seemed “beseder”, but in their answer was also the appreciation of your presence. You are very courageous to confront soldiers with the absurdity of this situation. I was so moved to see the smiles and greetings from those who made it through. Clearly, your effort is much respected, even if it is just to be there, to witness, document and empathise.
Warmly,
Yours
Ines.
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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