Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked
On this Saturday too the A'anin checkpoint did not open for olives pickers.
7:50 – Tura-Shaked checkpoint
8 workers come out of the checkpoint reporting no problems. Vehicles with small children and female students cross into the West Bank. Workers return from the West Banks through the checkpoint into the Seam Line zone.
A new Israeli flag is hoisted slightly over eye level at the center of the checkpoint, giving evidence of a strong east wind. Someone says that today "the soldiers are quiet" and "all is ok".
A white van picks up three workers on their way to Um el Rihan.
06:10 5 more workers come out and get into a car which is waiting for them.
08:15– The checkpoint is empty and I leave.
8:20 Barta'a-Rihan checkpoint
The upper car park is almost full of Israeli and Palestinian cars. Many people are waiting for transportation to work. On the other side, at the vehicles' inspection post, two cars are being inspected. A strong east wind hits the sleeve leading to the terminal. Those (many) who come out of the terminal say that there is great crowding inside. Three windows are active this morning (usually there is only one) but this does not help. "What's going on today? An hour, a whole hour," say those who come out. A well-attired man reads my tag and smiles doubtfully :"No to the checkpoints, Ha?".
An ugly draining channel which has been carved into the concrete last week already accumulates dirt.
Women loaded with goods go through the turnstile into the West Bank.
A smiling young man says that there are a thousand people inside. "There are problems"
At 9:15 I go down to the Palestinian car park to pick up Marie on her way to her weekly physical therapy at the center for child development in Um-el-Fahem. I wouldn't have reported it except for the embarrassing absurd theater at the vehicles' inspection post. The soldiers take the can of olive oil which Marie's father had brought for one of our friends out of the car and inspect it. The child's wheelchair is taken out as well. Her mischievous brother runs willingly to be inspected, and Marie is also being inspected in a most strict manner at a small chamber with no windows. The inspector is pleasant – he sees her every week! The father is rather happy with the inspection saying :"Now they are sure that all is ok with him and there are no doubts about him…."
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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