Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
The lower parking lot in Area C is already filled with vehicles but it’s still possible to find parking. Upon leaving the car –a strong, freezing wind is shaking the awning, the large metal signs, and even the separation fence. Near the yellow entry gate there is not a living soul. Afterwards it turns out that since the morning usual “Hamsa-Hamsa” (groups of five), entry has been cancelled, possibly because of the harsh weather conditions and in consideration for the people. Maybe. Everyone who arrives enters immediately and joins those in the inner passage to what is known here, in the North, to the dismay of some friends, the “Terminal” (as if it's a normal border between two sovereign countries). It appears that some of the people are not proceeding inside. I mark someone who has arrived at the facility at 6:14 and a few minutes later I wait for him at the exit passage to the seam line zone.
At 6:40 I meet a boy (a different one) near the turnstile, who has just now received a notice from his employer in Barata`a that if he is late, there is no reason for him to come to work. “He’s a tough guy”, says the boy and returns home, losing a day’s work. NIS 150. He claims that this morning there is a big mess and others have already returned home. Trying to climb back through the passage so I can talk to someone. R., Assistant Manager of the Checkpoint arrives and claims that if there is a big mess, “it’s because of “THEM”. They (the Palestinians rushing to work) need to organize and control the line and then everything will be all right. Voluntarily, of course. No, he has no budget for additional personnel, and besides that, “what? You never wait for hours to board a flight at the airport?” To my dismay, I have to remind him that we’re talking about people who have to pass through here every morning in order to earn their living, and suggest that he meet with S`, the head of the textile factory in Barta'a and an important member of the Workers Committee of all the textile factories in Jenin. They did meet the next day (yesterday) for a half hour. S. says that already on the same morning, passage was already easier.
During my conversation with R, the boy I had previously marked arrived. It is 7:07. Almost an hour. It appears that R. is somewhat embarrassed.
7:20 Tora Shaked Checkpoint
Here everything is running smoothly. Little children arrive on foot from Dahar El-Malek; a vehicle brings students up to the checkpoint; there is no line of cars and near the turnstile five or six people are waiting. The usual garbage is all over the place.
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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