Barta’a-Reihan, Tayba-Rummana, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
06:30 A’anin checkpoint
We were late. The farmers already went through. The soldiers are still there.
06:40 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint
Many people wait on the seam zone side for rides to work, and many cars and taxis wait for riders. Two Palestinians sell coffee to those waiting.
The parking lot on the Palestinian side is still being renovated. A long line of cars parked along the road. A dozen pickup trucks loaded with merchandise are parked parallel to the line of cars, waiting to be inspected. The improvised parking lot up the road is full. Many cars also park next to the blocked “bridge.”
06:55 Ya’bed-Mevo Dothan checkpoint
The checkpoint still isn’t manned; there’s not much traffic.
07:00 Soldiers arrive; traffic stops for a few minutes. A line forms from Jenin to the west. The soldiers erect a cone-shaped sign reading “Stop – Checkpoint.” A polite soldier approaches us. He knows we’re from Machsom Watch, says there are a range of opinions, asks us to be careful of thrown rocks , says that last time our colleagues hadn’t reported on this checkpoint. So we’re reporting. Cars go through with no delay, people are pulled randomly for a brief questioning, and that’s it. Faded flags of Israel and of the regional council fly along the road up to Mavo Dothan. An undignified occupation.
07:20 On our way back we saw the heavy iron gate blocking the side road to Ya’bed, locked as usual. A military car parks next to the pillbox opposite the gate.
07:35 Tura-Shaked checkpoint
We’re surprised to see so many people still there at this hour, waiting to cross to the seam zone. People say the checkpoint opened late; they also note that crossing proceeds slowly. We see that people exit to the seam zone at a very slow rate. The trash bin overflows; the area is very dirty.
08:00 Taybe-Rummaneh checkpoint
The Border Police, which usually operates this checkpoint, haven’t yet arrived. About 30 men, women and children wait to cross to the seam zone imprisoned between the fence and the outskirts of Umm el Fahm.
08:15 The Border Police arrives and opens the gate a quarter-hour late.
08:20 The sole tractor waiting goes through. The others follow – farmers, mothers and their children. The children are very well dressed. They’re celebrating the final days of vacation. The school year in Palestine begins Sunday. Every bag is carefully inspected, the soldier removes its contents, examines it, asks questions.
One of the people crossing wishes us good morning with a sour expression on his face. How are things, we ask. Lousy! he replies.
08:40 We left before everyone had finished crossing.
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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Tayba-Rummana
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Tayba-Rummana is an agricultural checkpoint. It is located in the separation fence in front of the eastern slopes of the Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rummana. Dozens of dunams of olive groves were removed from their owners, the residents of these villages on the western side of the separation fence. The Palestinian villages next to the checkpoint are Khirbet Tayba and Rumna. Dozens of olives dunams were removed from these villages' residents and swallowed up in a narrow strip of space, on the western side of the separation fence. The checkpoint allows the plantation owners who have permits to pass. Twice a week, the checkpoint opens for fifteen minutes in the morning and evening. During the harvest season, it opens every day for fifteen minutes in the morning (around 0630) and fifteen minutes in the afternoon (around 1530). (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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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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