Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:45 – Reihan – Barta'a Checkpoint
The parking lot on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint is almost full. About 200 workers are standing in an orderly line along the fence. We thought this was happening by itself, but it is Ayad, the former mayor of the regional council, who holds an M.A. in Social Work and is now a contractor. He has been taking charge of the line in front of the only turnstile every morning for over a week. At about 06:15 more workers arrive and the line becomes longer. Most of them do construction work in Harish. They told us that at most of the building sites the contractors adhere to safety precautions. About 60-80 people enter each time the turnstile opens. People greet Ayad and promise him that his positive actions will bring him to the Garden of Eden, and he answers that it is because of us. We give him bags of clothing and toys that we received from our friend Idit and he promised to take them to a kindergarten.
06:50 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
The gates to the checkpoint on the seamline zone side are open and we are able to observe what is going on at the other side from the center of the checkpoint. We hear people talking and there is a line of cars waiting at the gate.
The soldiers arriving at the checkpoint.
A discarded superfluous sign is lying at the entrance.
The soldiers arrived at 07:10 and the first car goes out at 07:17. The driver is irritated and drives at full speed along the narrow road that is also used by the schoolchildren, who arrive on foot. Two men who are returning from the 11-hour night shift in one of the factories in the Shaked Industrial Zone ask, is it fair to earn only NIS 200 [per day]? Another person, who is a resident of A'araka, tells us about his difficulty in obtaining a crossing permit for his car and in working his land on the other side of the fence.
By 07:45 no one else is waiting at the turnstile and the few cars cross quickly.
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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