Barta`a checkpoint: Life goes on. The important thing is to earn a living.
15:15: We passed Reihan-Barta’a Checkpoint. Since the terrorist attack near Hermesh on May 30th and the campaign in Jenin on July 5th we have not done that. There were no cars parked by the side of the road and the large parking lot near Zabda was empty and the construction work there continues. There were cars parked in the parking lots beneath Zabda and only a few people were returning from work at this time of day.
15:30 – Yaabed-Dotan Checkpoint
The checkpoint was being manned by paratroopers and the red and white flag of the unit was flying. People driving in the direction of Yaabed and Jenin were not being checked but a line had formed because of cars going in the other direction that were being checked. (See photo 709). The traffic was being held up and people were agitated. Almost every driver rolled down their windows and said “It’s like this all the time” or “Do something!” but we explained that we could not do anything except report the situation. The sign at the turn to Mevo Dotan advertising education and Judea and Samaria. (523)
15:45 – Hermesh Checkpoint
The checkpoint has been reinstated since the terrorist attack at this checkpoint in which Meir Tamari was murdered. There was little traffic at this time of day. Cars going in the direction of Kafin –Baka al Sharkiya Tulkarem were not being checked, on that side of the road there were positions that were not manned. There was a temporary position on the other side of the road where cars were being checked (622). A memorial had been set up in memory of Tamari (624).
16:00 Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Palestinian Side
Everything was `as usual` and many people were returning from work. The boys were present with their thermos jugs of coffee, the trailer kiosk was open, the woman with her daughter begging at the entrance to the crossing shed, next to the peanut stand and the cake stand. No one was complaining. The peanut salesman said “that’s life, the important thing is to earn a living.”
People at the vehicle checkpoint asked us what we were doing in the Palestinian parking lot and requested our ID cards.
16:30 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
On our way to the checkpoint we joined the line of vehicles that had brought workers to the checkpoint that were now returning to Israel. There were few people crossing. The checkpoint was quiet and dirty and the construction on the wall that is replacing the separation fence has been halted. We don’t know if or when it will continue.
16:40 – We drove home. It is hot outside but it is cool in the air-conditioned car.
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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Hermesh
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Hermesh
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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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Zabda
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Zabda Located in the north of the West Bank,
Shuli BarMay-23-2023The huge parking lots in front of Zabda and the Barta`a checkpoint
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