Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
Shaked – Tura Checkpoint, 15:00
The checkpoint is quiet and empty and hot. A soldier, armed to the teeth and wearing paratrooper's boots, approached us and asked whether we needed help and what we were doing there. Our answer satisfied him and he left.
The checkpoint is well equipped, with a stoplight which faces the settlement of Shaked. It does not appear that drivers approaching the checkpoint can see what color the light is.
Faded white strips run from one side of the gate to the other. A street light is on while the sun shines brightly overhead.
A few cars cross and people who emerge from the inspection booth walk up to cars that have already been checked and continue on their way. Again we ask about what appears to us to be a waste of the security budget. The soldiers seem polite and everything is in order – but in reality everything is far from being “in order.”
A Palestinian grandfather with several merry grandchildren is waiting for his wife who is returning from a visit to her daughter in Zibda. We had toys with us and the children were very happy to receive them. We accepted their invitation to go to their house in Dahar al Malakh for tea. We were greeted by a large family. The daughters-in-law brought tea and cookies and everyone greeted us with handshakes and kisses on the cheek. The tea was sweet and fragrant. The conversation was about the television broadcast about the village on Channel 1 and the need to connect the village to electricity. The residents have received a promise from a person from the Liaison and Coordination Administration that the village would be connected. We asked about building permits and were told that the village has existed since around 1930, and no current home owners received a building permit. The man has built two-storey houses for four of his sons. They all live happily in the same courtyard with many grandchildren of various ages. We invited ourselves to the celebration that will take place when the village receives electricity.
We decided not to drive to Yaabed – Dotan checkpoint, because recently it has been unmanned. Occasionally there is someone in the watchtower. An acquaintance informed us that the checkpoint has been empty and traffic has been moving through freely, without delays.
Barta'a (Reihan) 15:50
At this hour many workers are returning to their homes in the West Bank after work. As we descended the sleeve we saw from a distance that a crowd was forming in back of the turnstile and there was a line in front of the two computer stations, which were not operating. Nevertheless, the turnstile continued to admit more people. There was a lane between the two lines and young men, who work in Israel and do not speak Hebrew, were walking through. They are building the settlement of Harish. We attempted to ask two workers if they knew whether the computers were operational. They did not answer and disappeared inside.
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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