Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
5:45 Barta’a Riehan Checkpoint
This morning a long and winding line progresses very slowly. Groups of 40-60 laborers are guided through the only carousel at longer-than-usual intervals. When we exit later we hear from one of the guards that a laborer made a fuss in the terminal and that was why things were managed that way. A couple with five children pass through the women’s carousel. The kids run ahead seemingly accustomed to the crossing; it appears they’re returning from a weekend spent in the West Bank. Eight guys are returning home at their contractor’s instruction, due to the rain. True, they’re losing a work day but they’re planning to have breakfast and listen to Fairuz. A man tells us that he builds luxury villas for millionaires in Barta’a. He makes 500 shekels a day and is so proud.
At 6:20 forty laborers cross through the checkpoint. The line remains very long and we plan to return after going to Tura.
6:35 Tura Shaked Checkpoint
The checkpoint opened on time and when we arrive no one is waiting by the carousel. Few cross by foot or car. Apparently the kids’ rides will arrive later because of the weather.
At 7:20 we return to the Barta’a checkpoint. The line is still long but disappears after ten minutes and then anyone who arrives goes directly into the terminal. We notice a new structure that was concealed earlier by the line. It’s located near the fence at the eastern end of the parking lot. The guard we spoke with confirms that it houses new bathrooms, since the others are very far away and adds: “We’re doing everything we can for them. Why not?”
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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