Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
O7.00 – 07.30 Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
The soldiers arrive on time, the checkpoint opens, and as usual we stand at the entrance to the “sleeve” (the wire-netting corridor whose function is to guide those passing through the checkpoint to the West Bank and from there to the seam-line zone), as if they were animals and not human beings). Two soldiers rush towards us like arrows shot from a bow. Their spokesman says irritably, “what are you doing here? We are busy dealing with the kidnapped boys and you come here to fawn on the Palestinians!”
Would there have been any point in reminding him of the Palestinian youngsters whom our soldiers haul out of their beds at night, tie them up and abduct them somewhere, without telling their parents where they are, interrogate and beat them, and afterwards free them and throw them out in some unknown locality ? Would there have been any point in telling him that I worry about my nephew, who is serving in an elite unit and is engaged in searching for the kidnappers, perhaps also pulling youngsters out of their beds ? My heart feels like a ping-pong ball.
The Palestinians come from the West-bank, and, after a crowded wait of about 15 minutes near the turnstile, come out quietly and not agitated, like tamed sheep : “The soldiers shout a bit, but everything is fine.“
07.45 – 8.30 Barta’a-Reihan
There isn’t any reminder of a warning about the general closure (of the occupied territories). Also, our feeling that there are fewer people coming from the west-bank doesn’t match the conclusion of a taxi-driver who is waiting to transport them. Everything is normal.
We descend through the fenced “Sleeve” to the exit from the terminal which leads to the seam-line zone. The traffic is orderly, as usual. At first only one inspection-window is open, but after a few minutes another on opens. There isn’t any perceptible pressure. One of those coming out tells us about S., a big merchant from Barta’a, who although he is equipped with permits both to Israel and to Barta’a, is being held up at the terminal for a long time every day. We try to wait for him. One of the security guards tells us that S. should go to the civil administration office at Salem, but the girl at the inspection window tells us that he has already left. Although she gives us an indicating mark how to identify him, it is apparently inaccurate.
The coffee-cart, which has been upgraded to a coffee-bar, is in a big shipping-container located beyond the “sleeve’s” fence. It is covered with elongated “bricks” painted like wood, and has big windows. Apparently the business is profitable. The Palestinians prefer the coffee here, and perhaps also the snacks here are more attractive than at Hani's in the shed.
Are we seeing the start of a new concept, and the rights of the first-comer, when this checkpoint becomes an official crossing-point between Israel and Palestine?
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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