Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
16:30 to 15:50
On the new road there is another element that confirms the annexation De Facto of the Seam Zone: a large colorful sign: “Welcome to Samaria”.
Turah-Shaked Checkpoint – 15.50 The shed is full of people and children with packages. They are inhabitants of Turah and Javed who are traveling in an organized tour to the evening prayers at Al Aqsa mosque. Before the prayer, they will break the fast with the food they carry with them. Buses that were rented in Umm al-Fahm will pick them up. During Ramadan the checkpoint is open until 23:00, so they will be back by then. Most of the passengers are women, men prefer to remain at work. They received entry permits for the whole month of Ramadan.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint – 16:05 – Judging by the large number of vehicles traveling in the opposite direction from the checkpoint, it seems that the workers return home early during the fasting period. None of the usual traffic in the upper parking lot, there are fewer workers who are returning from work to the West Bank, most of them are young. Here, too, there are many women and children, all festive and merry while waiting for a ride to Barta’a, where buses also leave for Al-Aqsa Mosque. Private cars passing to the seam zone are checked in two windows (for cars and cargo). The terminal is not prepared for so many people entering into the seam zone, only one window is open, and the passage takes about 30 minutes.
We meet two women who are waiting anxiously for an older woman who is detained because she has an old Palestinian orange identity card. We turned to R. at the checkpoint and he handled her passage to the women’s relief.
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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