Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
On our way to Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint we saw road signs designating Israeli settlements and communities, but none pointing to Palestinian villages besides the divided city of Barta’a. We also saw a recreation area called “Reihan Forest,” for th use of Israelis and also Palestinians from the seamline zone, with a rangers’ station left over from the British Mandate.
15:15 – New Barta’a Checkpoint
We arrived a bit early and the upper area was relatively empty. I went down the sleeve that leads to the terminal. The path was clean and the water cooler was working and had a faucet for filling up bottles with cold water. The refreshments stand was closed.
15:30 – Workers began to arrive and walk noisily down the sleeve.The average age of most was 30+, but there were some younger people as well. It took people 6-7 minutes to come out on the Palestinian side, depending upon how crowded it was. A group of women and children came up towards the seamline zone for some unknown event in Barta’a. They were followed by another group of women and children and older women.
A line of light trucks was waiting as a truck with building materials was being checked and left at 15:45.
People approached me about permits to work in Israel and I explained the procedure. People also asked about our job at the checkpoint and I explained that it was to remind people what was happening, to protest against the occupation and against the infringement upon human rights by posting reports and photographs on our website in Hebrew and English.
16:00 – 16:30 – Tura Checkpoint
The checkpoint was quiet and the few people were crossing through without any delays. People were tired, it was very hot, and everyone continued on their way home.
On our way back from the checkpoint we picked up a woman and a child, residents of Um al Reihan in the seamline zone who were returning from the hospital in Jenin. Her seven-year-old son suffers from several illnesses, but there is no clinic in the entire seamline zone except for the one in Barta’a, where she often has to wait for a long time and the doctor treating her son is not always there. The trip to Jenin involves crossing several checkpoints in both directions and she has several other children waiting at home. This way of life involves intolerable hardship for the mother and her young son.
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
-