Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Wed 31.7.13, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
15:45-16:10 Shaked/Tura
A long convoy of military and civilian vehicles drives toward us – maybe it’s a good sign. A man who was detained is allowed through. We leave, the car filled with passengers to Umm el Reihan.
16:25-18:25 Reihan-Barta’a
We walk down the fenced corridor to the terminal entrance; few people have arrived. More come later; we sense how tired they are. They go through quickly, which helps a great deal. We enter the terminal with them. Near the entrance there’s a device on which they tap their IDs and proceed to the exit.
A female voice says: You’ll have to return the way you came. That’s ok; it’s what we wanted.
The parking lot on the Palestinian side is full. A few drivers talk with us, tell about their children, themselves. One says it’s particularly difficult now at the Jalameh crossing. It’s easy to leave and return early during the holiday, but appeals to the Palestinian DCO regarding this matter didn’t help. One tells us about his little daughter who’s half paralyzed; he wants her to be treated in Israel. Another speaks Hebrew well; we ask him how he learned – by himself, he replies.
Now back through the terminal. They open the yellow gate for us, we walk through a kind of labyrinth, at least five revolving gates, two conveyor belts on which belongings are placed to be scanned, and with hands raised through a scanner. I must have made a very great impression; I was sent through three times. Apparently it wasn’t me, but my watch. I emerge gratefully into freedom.
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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