Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
Jamal: “Couldn’t they have sent better soldiers during the holiday?”
8:20 Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
On this, the first day of Eid al Fitr, we decided to arrive later than usual with the hope that we’d meet families on their way to celebrate the holiday. And indeed, minutes after our arrival a festively dressed family arrive: a woman, two young women (her husband’s nieces), another girl and two small boys. The boys are armed with a black plastic machine gun and pistol. Her father-in-law, Jamal, joins them. They are from Tura and are on their way to Barta’a. The young woman’s husband is detained in the center of the checkpoint while his car is checked. The woman is worried. We advance toward the soldiers, along with the man’s father, in order to find out what’s going on. They shout at us. The man attempts to appeal to the soldiers to let him through, but with no luck. He’s forced to return to the West Bank, exit through the Barta’a checkpoint, and from there drive back here in order to pick up his family! A long, long drive. The quote above is from the man’s father, who preferred to ride with us along with the two young women. We drove them to their relatives’ home in Barta’a, along a windy road on which we saw many kids playing with those black machine guns….
9:00 Ya’abed-Dotan Checkpoint
Traffic is flowing without delays. A soldier comes down from the pillbox. He’s under the impression that we’re not allowed to be here. We tell him a bit about ourselves and in the meantime a military command-car arrives and the officer confirms that we’re permitted to be there. Drivers wave hello to us as they pass by.
9:20 Barta’a Riehan Checkpoint
A few cars are parked in the lot on the West Bank side. A few youngsters are gathered in the shade. There aren’t even any taxis here or in the upper parking lot in the seam zone. Happy holiday.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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).
-
Tura-Shaked
See all reports for this place-
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
-
Ya'bed-Dotan
See all reports for this place-
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)
-