Barta’a-Reihan, Jalama, Tura-Shaked
Jalameh Checkpoint, 06:07
I have not been at this checkpoint for a long time. I wanted to see how Palestinian patients are driven from the West Bank to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Unfortunately I was five minutes late. A large tent has been erected in the parking lot to provide shade for the workers and drivers. However, the tent is empty and a lot of workers are waiting at various places around the parking lot, where they have meeting points with their drivers. The month of Ramadan has begun and workers are going to work as usual. I hope they will not be delayed for a long time at the end of the day before they return home to break their fast.
Next to the fence there is a container similar to the new mobile kiosk at the Reihan–Barta'a checkpoint. Perhaps it is not a kiosk but some new form of architecture at the checkpoints.
Tura – Shaked Checkpoint 06:57
The soldiers slowly arrive from the nearby army camp. They do not return my greeting of "Good morning." The unit flag has been changed. The purple caps of the Givati Brigade have vanished, and a unit from the armored corps is here for a week or two.
07:07– We hear shouting on the other side of the checkpoint.
07:09– The first worker emerges from the sleeve.
07:10– The goats, who have been waiting patiently, begin to cross the checkpoint.
07:13– The first car comes out.
07:14– The first car enters on its way to the West Bank
07:25– There is no one left near the turnstile. Everyone has crossed.
Reihan – Barta'a Checkpoint, 07:30
At first people reported that there was a problem with the x-ray machine, but soon people began to come out smiling and reported that the machine was working.
The kiosk is open today despite the fact that it is the first day of Ramadan. A sheet of blue plastic separates it from the sleeve in consideration of those who are fasting. The owner says that not everyone fasts, and a few people do go to the kiosk and buy something.
At 07:50 I collect Amjad and his daughter and his mischievous son. We drive up to the vehicle inspection point. All of the equipment that his handicapped daughter needs is meticulously inspected outside the car, as well as the olive oil I bought for a friend. Ruthi will take Amjad and his daughter to Abu Kabir, where there is a factory that makes equipment for handicapped people which Mari needs.
08:10– The lower parking lot is full as usual. 12 vans loaded with merchandise are waiting to be checked. Most are loaded with vegetables and are headed for stores in East Barta'a. They are covered with plastic sheets which must be removed and then refastened unto each crate after inspection. This takes a long time.
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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Jalama
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North of Jenin, on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. A big terminal for the passage of Palestinians with permits allowing entrance into Israel and goods into Israel operates there. In the course of 2009 the terminal was opened for the passage of Israeli Arabic citizens into the West Bank. Since October 2009 they may pass in their cars.
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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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