Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:15 – Barta’a Checkpoint
Many workers are waiting for their rides and many drivers are waiting for passengers. As mentioned before, there is nowhere to sit and no shade, but everyone is happy to have gotten through the checkpoint.
05:50 – The Palestinian Side, Entrance to the Terminal
There is a very long and orderly double line from the road to the entrance. Taxis are dropping off passengers. There is order and no dangerous confusion of cars and people like in the upper exit. The parking lot is orderly and the Palestinian security guards work quietly and politely, and the workers seem pleased with the arrangement. About 100 people enter the turnstile at one time but move through quickly before the turnstile opens again.
05:45: We picked two workers who entered the terminal and then went up to the upper exit at the end of the sleeve, to see when they would come out. We saw one exit after 10 minutes but didn’t find the other one. The booths for checking certificates are operating.
06:26 – Tura Checkpoint
The checkpoint is still empty since the soldiers are due to open it at 06:30. On the Palestinian side we can see and hear people who are waiting. On Sundays through Wednesdays the checkpoint is supposed to open at 06:00, so that workers can get to work on time. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays it is apparently not important to get to work on time, so it only opens at 07:00. At 06:30 we called the Liaison and Coordination Administration and were told that the checkpoint would open 15 minutes late. At 06:36, we saw three soldiers slowly making their way down the road. Six soldiers are required to open the checkpoint. Four arrive by 06:45. We hear loud shouting from the Palestinian side. A driver next to us says that the workers are late every day and some miss their entire workday because of the soldiers’ tardiness and disregard. People are very angry and the Liaison and Coordination Administration does not help.
At 06:50 the two soldiers who were late slowly arrived. The first Palestinian comes through at 06:58. The rest come out slowly with long delays in between. At 07:20 there were still many workers waiting to cross. There is a lot of shouting, people are not moving, and we are told that today is particularly bad. There is a lot of anger, complaints, and frustration.
07:45 – We left, but there were still a lot of workers waiting.
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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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