Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
15:20 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
About twenty women were sitting on the bench under the shed. New planks have been placed on the metal frame – evidently do-it-yourself work by the Palestinians. About twenty men and a few children were waiting for the bus to Jerusalem to visit Al Aksa Mosque, visit, eat when iftar – the breaking of the fast in the evening, and then go to pray at night. They planned to return about 02:00 in the morning and pass through the vehicle checkpoint at Barta’a. The bus was late, perhaps because of a flat tire and perhaps it was stuck in traffic. Meanwhile people were using the time to complain about work permits and agricultural permits that have been revoked. Some of them are members of the huge Kaha Family who have been collectively punished because of the terrorist attack carried out by a member of the family. They claimed that the permits were revoked before the attack that took place on the road to the Yaabed Checkpoint. They explained that they were forbidden to enter Israel by the army and not be the Special Security Forces. We gave them Sylvia’s phone number as well as the number of the hotline for individual understanding and wished them luck and Ramadan Kareem.
16:00 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
On the way we saw tobacco fields in flower, while in others leaves were already hanging up to dry. An army jeep was parked on the top of one of the hills at the feet of one of the pillboxes but the checkpoint itself was not manned.
16:20 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
A lot of people were coming home from work at this time of day. Taxi drivers were shouting: “Nenin, Jenin” and the taxis were filling up. A few people were going the other way from the West Bank to the seamline zone. Here, too, a lot of people were complaining about being banned from entering Israel. The new shed is not yet operating. They were pouring a concrete floor that will evidently link the old area to the new one. On our way to the car we saw someone selling cakes from the trunk of his car. In a few hours they would sweeten the breaking of the day’s fast.
17:00 – On our way home we stopped at a minimarket at Um-A-Reihan, and I wondered how it was they were selling food when people are fasting. The same holds true for the kiosk at the Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint.
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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