Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
15:40 – Barta'a – Reihan Checkpoint
We drove down in the direction of the checkpoint and a security guard who did not know us asked where we were going. We told him we were going to Emricha to deliver packages of clothing. He delayed us but after some disagreement, we passed and delivered the clothing to A.' as well as another package from Tami.
A. gave us some gifts that needed to be checked in the vehicle inspection facility. We went down to the terminal together with workers who were returning to work. The drinking fountain had been removed but the pipes and electrical wires were left. Lines occasionally formed next to the inspection booths but quickly disappeared.
Another inspection window was operating on the other side of the wall. Ayad, the volunteer who keeps order at the entrance to the terminal each morning, arrived. He told us about the protest against the operation of the checkpoint last Sunday and the workers' refusal to cross until more inspection windows were opened in the terminal. The managers of the checkpoint thought he was the one responsible for organizing the protest. If one of our members had not intervened, they would have confiscated his permit. They eventually apologized and at a meeting with the head of the Barta'a Regional Council it was decided to appoint five paid workers to retain order at the checkpoint. Their salary will be paid by collecting parking fees in the Palestinian parking lot at the checkpoint. Ayad hopes that this will be the end of his volunteer work, which took at least two hours of his time each morning. We can testify that he performed his job with charismatic authority.
17:00 – Shaked – Tura Checkpoint
There is a lot of activity at the checkpoint. Workers are returning from work on foot and in vehicles. Vehicles are crossing in both directions. The commander of the checkpoint, a second lieutenant from the Bedouin brigade approached us. Everyone who passed us greeted him. We talked with him and he told us that he lives in the Galilee. He is a commissioned officer and will be promoted in two days to the rank of lieutenant. We took the opportunity to tell him how we felt about the checkpoints, their placement, and how they are managed.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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).
-
Tura-Shaked
See all reports for this place-
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
-
