Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
The North Sunday 15.3.2015 pm
Observers :
15.30 Tura Shaked Checkpoint
Pastoral silence. Everything around us was green and in bloom . . . .
The head of the village of Tura came out of the checkpoint on a tractor. He stopped near us and told us that he wanted to bring sacks of fertilizer to his tobacco field, and apparently he needed a special permit for transporting fertilizer. This is the sowing and planting season and every day is important. He had contacted the civil administration office and was told to make a list of the things he needed. He was about to contact the Center for the Individual’s Rights in Jerusalem in order to obtain the permit. If the problem remained unsolved, we suggested he should contact one of our colleagues, who would come to the checkpoint. Also, the village head complained that crossing-permits have been confiscated from several Palestinians. They were told to go to the Civil Administration office. They arrived there, waited for hours and were not allowed in.
15.30 Ya’abed-Dotan Checkpoint
Here too the surroundings were quiet. Cars passed through without being searched. The soldiers could be seen in the watch-tower.
On the way to the Barta’a checkpoint we saw a “flying” (ie surprise) checkpoint, where soldiers were searchung cars.
16.15 Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint
There was a rush of workers through the “sleeve” (i.e. enclosed corridor) and through the terminal. Two queues formed next to the examination machines; one of the machines wasn’t working. As usual, we were told from inside the checkpoint that it was being dealt with.
One of the workers passed us and exclaimed, “I loathe these checkpoints!” There is no better way of describing the situation.
By the time we left the queue has shortened quite a lot.
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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Ya'bed-Dotan
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Ya’bed-Dotan
This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)
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