Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
06:55-07:25 – Tura Checkpoint
On the West Bank side, people and cars already wait for the checkpoint to open. The soldiers arrive at 07:05, and take time to organize, and the first person exits the opening of the sleeve (the enclosure leading to the terminal) at 07:20. In the meantime, there was a small accumulation of cars on the side of the Seamline Zone. However, at this point, the passage is quick for both the cars and the pedestrians.
It looks like today there are fewer workers than usual, going in both directions.
07:35-08:10 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
The number of people passing through this morning is enormous. Many people go up the sleeve from the terminal and wait in the parking lot for transportation to work. There are 4 working windows in the terminal, and a long line in front of them,. The passage from the entrance to the exit seems to be quick. We timed about 10 minutes per person. The number of people lessened gradually and two windows were closed.
As we arrived, one man came to us with a question: Is it true that there will be a strike tomorrow and the checkpoint will be closed? We told him we hadn’t heard that, but we would try to find out. During our stay at the checkpoint, a number of other people asked the same question. One of the checkpoint workers answered: “No one knows. Maybe yes, maybe no.” That is, maybe hundreds of people might arrive at sunrise and wait for the checkpoint to open. . . Indeed, from that standpoint, there is no difference between Israel and the Occupied West Bank. At the writing of this report this morning, Sunday, 03.12.2017, it is reported on the radio that there is a strike and that the checkpoints are closed.
In the parking lot, two people who are banned from entering Israel, came to us for help. We passed on to them the magical slips of paper with Sylvia’s telephone number. “Will that help?” Sometimes yes and sometimes no, we try to answer. With that we received a long lecture, the summary of which is: “I did something for which I received a fine and imprisonment. I paid my debt to society. Why now am I blacklisted? What is the logic of this? Why can’t you take care of this? Aren’t you the group that listens to us and demands a correction? Why can’t you do something about this? You have power. How is it that Israel, the strongest country in the world, acts this way, illogically, at the expense of the people who only want to support their families?” It is clear that our response (“There is no logic; we don’t have much power, and it looks like we might be punished in the future for our activities. . . “) did not satisfy them, or us.
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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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