Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
05:30 Barta'a
Lower car park: Tens of workers arrive from the West Bank hurrying. Among them many women, who cross first. They all go fast through the turnstilr but a line is formed at the entrance to the terminal.
At the car park there are 6 pickup trucks loaded with merchandise and 11 more trucks wait on the road in front of the vehicles' inspection post.
We moved to the terminal's upper entrance, some of those coming out said that passage was swift, about 10 minutes, others reported of
half an hour and more.
A young fellow asks for help: He is married to an Israeli and they have children but he is denied unification with his family and in fact they live separately. He wishes to go to Israel to visit his children. He went to the Israeli DCO and was sent to the Palestinian one and from there back to the Israeli DCO. All he wants is to see his children.
A worker complains that on the eve of Passover the checkpoint was opened only at 07:00. He asks that it should open earlier, as always.
We met our friend B. who has lost his brother to a lengthy renal disease, He is not entitled to a passage permit to mourn with his family.
06:40 We leave.
06:50 Tura
Soldiers are on their way so passage would begin exactly at 07:00. In the meantime all is so tranquil here, wild flowers blossom, birds fly over our heads.
Teachers arrive in a car and drive through quickly. The site appears to wake up, cars go through in both directions. A little girl with a big backpack arrives first and is followed by more tiny kids. A young fellow, a university graduate, who had studied 4 years of economics and computers, works as a simple worker is a factory, under rough conditions, without air conditioning. He was offered a position in Ramallah but the salary was low, and what future is awaiting him? He lives on the other side of the checkpoint, on the Palestinian side. His father owns a large piece of land in the Seam Line zone. He grows Tobacco and must wait a month for his passage permit, while his crop dries out and he is forced to pay hired workers.
07:50– We leave.
On the way to the Jalama checkpoint we drive by olive groves belonging to a farmer from A'aneen, whom we know. A herd of cows wonders among the trees, causing damage. All of his complains and Ana's requests were of no avail.
08:15 Jalama checkpoint
The place is undergoing a facelift. Soil was brought in, trees were planted, and benches were installed, so that it feels "pleasant".
A man who need a ride to Rambam hospital is waiting for us.
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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