Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
Tura (Shaked) 06.55 – 07:55
When we arrived, soldiers came by foot to the checkpoint heavily armed with bullet-proof vests and weapons. A jeep was parked within the checkpoint and two soldiers moved around inside. We asked the soldiers who was responsible for the area around the checkpoint which is very dirty. They answered that they were new and didn’t know, but the sergeant introduced himself as the person responsible and claimed responsibility for the people in Daher El-Malech, the adjacent village. This angers us. It isn’t the village’s garbage that is thrown around here and it isn’t the people of the village that set up the covered waiting area here. In a short period the army employed two janitors, A man and his son, who cleaned the checkpoint and the area around it. Did the budget end? The dirt rejoices.
We were not able to count how many people wait on the Tura side, because of all of the soldiers at the checkpoint. The carousel was opened very slowly – the first three women came out, who waited for their ride. The male and female teachers already arrived at the school in Umm-Reihan in order to prepare for the coming school year. The checkpoint was managed slowly, but people and cars passed through. Usually, the checkpoint empties by 07:30 but today the passage went on and on, and we continued on as well.
Barta’a (Reihan) 08:05
We passed by the checkpoint. We saw only one taxi waiting for passengers and a thin stream (of people) came out from the terminal. Most had apparently already passed through to work. The lower parking lot is already full as is the private field above the hill, and also the shoulders on both sides of the road. There are many heavily loaded trucks waiting to enter and be checked.
Ya’bed (Dotan) 08:15
We passed by the Bedouin village of Amricha. The yellow checkpoint that blocks the shortcut to Ya’bed and away from there, is obviously closed and we didn’t see an army vehicle beside it. The tobacco in the fields is blooming. Opposite us two women pass, with heavily ladened donkeys. Tobacco or not tobacco? Two small red signs painted are placed on Ya’bed’s side of the road. On the way back, we stop and read them.
It is quiet at the checkpoint a thin stream of traffic flowed in two directions. The street lights are lit up. Electricity or a generator? We called out to soldiers at the head of the tower but there is no answer. It seems like we heard a radio or speaking from a communications instrument somewhere up there but we weren’t answered. We traveled back and stopped beside one of the red signs that was put up that carried the following writing: “Army (military) area. It is forbidden to cross the fence (we didn’t see a fence, only thistles beside the road). A person who passes over will be punished.” We didn’t cross over to any place, but the military jeep was stopped next to us as if to protect us from all possible problems. A soldier asked us if we needed help. We didn’t.
On the way back, we tried to enter the lower parking lot of the Bart’aa passage and saw that if we enter, we won’t be able to leave – we gave up.
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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