Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:20 – 06:00 – Barta’a Checkpoint
Many workers are waiting for their rides to work in the upper parking lot. People are sitting on the curb, on rocks, on the roadside and in any free spot, drinking coffee and smoking. The place is desolate and decrepit but we are accustomed to it. Why are there no benches, water coolers, or awnings? Why are the restrooms so run down, with a broken door that does not close? Who is in charge here?
In the lower parking lot, Palestinian ushers are supervising the line in a pleasant, quiet manner. A double line becomes single file at the entrance to the turnstiles. There are currently about 500 people waiting. A guard collects parking fees and issues receipts. All is quiet and orderly as if this is a normal place.
People are coming through the terminal at a reasonable rate. Every few minutes the turnstile opens and a large number of people goes through.
05:50 – About 300 people are waiting. People continue to arrive and join the line. Before 06:00, many more people arrive and again 500 people are waiting. People are arriving in taxis and cars and on foot, after parking on the opposite hill. Some of the drivers are waiting for passengers.
A 45-year-old man complains that he has not been allowed to cross and go to work, despite the fact that he has a permit. At the beginning of the week, he went to the Liaison and Coordination Administration at Salem and lost a day’s work waiting there, only to be told that his papers were on their way to him. On Tuesday he went to work as usual with the same papers and again on Wednesday he was not allowed to cross. When I finally managed to talk with the Liaison and Coordination Administration they said he had to come again. There is nothing to be done but go to the Liaison and Coordination Administration again.
06:30 – Tura Checkpoint
The checkpoint is supposed to be open but the soldiers have not yet arrived. Two or three people are waiting and 20 or 30 people are waiting next to the turnstile.
At 06:40 the soldiers slowly stroll up as if they are on a morning walk. They arrive at the checkpoint and ignore the people waiting. The officer claims that the checkpoint opens at 06:45. At 06:50 things are ready and the checkpoint opens at 07:00. Crossing goes without delay. 23 people and five cars crossed from the West Bank to the seamline zone. Many of the workers work in the nearby settlements.
We were told that on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays the checkpoint is open from 07:00 to 10:30 and from 12:30 to 21:00. A man tells us that he has heard that all the area from Dahar al Malakh to eastward will be returned to the West Bank.
We left at 07:20.
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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