Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
06:15 Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint
06:15 Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint
Everything is proceeding “as usual”. In the upper parking lot on the seamline zone side workers are waiting for their rides to work. There is a long line on the Palestinian side that continues to the end of the parking lot. People enter the turnstile in groups of 50 – 100 at a time. The line does not get any shorter because many people are continuing to arrive at this time of day. The Palestinian attendants are doing their jobs keeping order and collecting parking fees.
At Leah’s suggestion, we went to talk to the truck drivers who were waiting to be checked at the vehicle checkpoint. The facility only opens at 08:00, but they arrive much earlier to get a place in line. One driver told us that he leaves home in East Barta’a at 03:00 in the morning, drives to load his cargo at the factory in Tulkarem and then drives to the checkpoint to get there by 04:00. He estimates that his truck will be checked at 09:00 – six hours after he got up and left home. Since the inspection takes an hour and a half, he will only be on his way at 10:30. Another driver told us that he got to the checkpoint at 05:30 and is 20th in line. The first drivers in line are those who have been waiting since yesterday afternoon. There is only one authorized refrigerated truck. A driver told us that he transports various types of processed meat in an unrefrigerated truck. The Barta’a Regional Council requested that he be allowed to cross through without waiting in line, but the checkpoint commanders refuse and explain that his place in line depends upon the other colleagues. Another driver explained that the vehicle inspection facility is open until 14:00, but anyone arriving before 13:00 will be checked even if the inspection takes until 16:00 or 17:00. All of the approved truck drivers are from East Barta’a in the seamline zone. The opening hours have not yet been set for the upcoming holiday of Eid Al Adha that begins on Monday September 12th. The holiday consists of a day of fasting followed by three days of celebration.
07:10 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
Young schoolchildren are crossing to school in the village of Tura on the other side of the fence. We picked up some cute girls in our car and brought them to the checkpoint. The checkpoint opened ten minutes late at 06:40. One person tells us that he crossed to the seamline zone within 15 minutes. Another person says that it took him a half hour and is angry that we have not done anything to improve the situation. Another says that the computer was not working and that crossing takes a long time.
, 07:50 – The new kiosk opposite the school in Um A-Reihan is still closed, but the bakery next to it is open. We had a breakfast of freshly baked pita bread with hyssop while listening to the children singing in assembly in the school yard.
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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