Barta'a checkpoint: Private vehicles remain at the checkpoint and drivers pass the checkpoint on foot
Last week a young man from the West bank called and complained that people are not being allowed to cross at Barta’a Checkpoint from the West bank to Barta’a in private vehicles. Residents of the West bank who work in the seamline zone in places such as Barta’a are forced to leave their cars at the checkpoint and continue to travel to work by taxi.
I spoke with Ron, one of the managers at the Barta’a Checkpoint to try and understand what this directive was about. When I remarked that they had found another way to cancel another attempt to make crossing at Barta’a easier, I was answered with amazement. The regulation was directed at residents of the West Bank who are driving cars that do not belong to them but claim that they own them. The restriction is due to concern for the health of residents of the West Bank because of the COVID19 virus. The objective is to not only guard the health of residents, but to eliminate waiting lines at the vehicle checkpoints. Residents of the West Bank fill their vehicles with passengers who want rides (sometimes for payment) and this causes crowds to accumulate at the vehicle checkpoints, which is against quarantine regulations. The checkpoint workers prefer that everyone cross the checkpoint on foot and they don’t like it when Palestinians force their arrangement upon them. I am not sure that private cars will be permitted to cross at the vehicle checkpoint again after the threat of the Corona virus ends.
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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