Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
New Barta'a Checkpoint
06:05– People are passing through the terminal without delay. A man, whom we know, who usually crosses at Tura is crossing at Barta'a today. He unlaces his shoes ahead of time because they are steel-toed work shoes, but the loudspeaker announces that there is no need to remove shoes. Most of the people crossing are young workers who are on their way to work at the Shahak Industrial Zone. Later we saw the Shahak workers sitting on their cooler with their food, waiting for a ride on the side of the road. One would think that they could install several benches here for people to wait on.
06:30– We descend the sleeve past silly drawings on the stone wall near the private parking lot for the checkpoint workers and their guests. Perhaps the drawings are there to distract people from the sight of people going through the iron gates. On our way through the sleeve we saw several vans and a Palestinian car entering the inspection area without permission. A soldier scolds the driver, "who told you to drive up? Go back!" The driver appears to be attempting to convince her to let him pass, but he is denied access and has to go back and wait. Five minutes later he is called to the inspection point.
A man on his way to work comes out but after he emerged from the turnstile he remembered that he forgot something inside the terminal next to the inspection window, and asks to go back in. He asks another person to bring him the item, but the inspector insists that he go through the entire inspection process again from the other side. The man is in a hurry and decides to leave the item behind. The rest rooms in the upper parking lot are filthy. There is water on the floor and the doors are left open.
Tura Checkpoint
07:03– The soldiers have arrived, but the checkpoint is still closed. Several people, students, and the school principal are all waiting. On the West Bank side, on the other hand, the checkpoint is open and about 20 people are waiting near the inspection booth.
At 07:10 the gate opens on the seamline zone side and schoolchildren arrive on foot. Crossing to the West Bank and to the seamline zone is routine and without delay and only the usual checks are being carried out. One person tells us that he has crossed every morning using the same permit but yesterday they looked at his permit and refused to let him cross. Today he crossed without any problem. When he asked why he was refused entry the day before yesterday, he was told to ask at the Liaison and Coordination Administration. These are trivial matters that seem unimportant, but for Palestinians they are part of a daily struggle against constant harassment and degradation. They create a lack of confidence about the future, and people who are dependent upon the whims of soldiers who offer no explanations or apologies for delays. This behavior is not with evil intention, but is nevertheless degrading.
We left at 07:45.
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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