Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
Turah-Shaked checkpoint.
A heavy fog. The checkpoint is still closed. With difficulty, it is possible to see through the fog, a number of people waiting on the W.Bank side of the carousel. The soldiers arrived at 7.05 [?] and begin the opening process. Now it transpires that there is not electricity and so they can’t operate the checking room and the vehicles checkpoint. Meanwhile, a few dozen people as well as some cars collect on the W.Bank side.
07.20. The soldiers begin passing pedestrians by manual checking. The first person exits at 7.20, but passage is quick. On the other hand, they do not allow vehicles to pass, although it is possible to raise the barrier manually – as they did for a horse and wagon.
People who came through said that the vehicle checkpoint coming from Turah is open. We contacted the office – they answered quickly and politely and said they would contact the soldiers in the field and check. Time passes, more vehicles arrive on both sides, and all wait. At 7.40 we phoned again – “The matter is being dealt with.” The woman soldier at the other end of the line argues, tries to explain that the soldiers know what they are doing. Nevertheless she will ask that they will get instructions. According to her, they cannot pass vehicles if there is no electricity, because they have to look in the eyes of the driver, in order to decide that he is indeed entitled to pass … In other words, it does not seem logical to her that a soldier should hold up the barrier. (Perhaps it would be possible to tie it up to the neighbouring pole?)
At 8 o’clock the brilliant solution is found: the checkpoint is closed to vehicles. The soldiers closed the gates to the vehicle checkpoint and sent off the cars that were still waiting. Is this the “Israeli initiative” that we are so proud of? We left.
08.10-08.30. Barta’ah – Rehan checkpoint.We arrived late at Barta’ah, the main wave had already passed through. The upper parking lots were almost empty of transports. In the terminal two windows were open and passage was quick. We delivered 4 instruction slips from Sylvia to people who asked for help in solving problems of permit cancellations.08.45. Turah –Shaked checkpoint. On the way back we again entered the Turah-Shaked checkpoint to check on the situation of cars. The checkpoint was still closed to vehicles. We again phoned – they promised that they were doing their best to solve the problem. What a shame that this is the best that IDF soldiers can do (3 girls and a boy).
It is important to remember that it is the olive harvest season. People are setting out for a day’s work, accompanied by women and children. They need the car that is waiting behind for the heavier harvest equipment.
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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