Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
14:50 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
Quiet, empty, and filthy, as usual. Two cars pass from the West Bank to the Seamline Zone. We were pleasantly surprised to see women driving both cars. A woman with packages, who crossed the checkpoint by foot, waits to be picked up. She is a resident of Umm Reihan in the Seamline Zone, who has shopped in Jenin.
15:10 – We pass by Barta’a checkpoint. There are many cars in the parking lots and on the roadside. Six small trucks wait for inspection next to the vehicle checkpoint. We continue eastward and stop at F.’s grocery in the village of Emricha. F. has set out tables and chairs in a well-taken-care-of covered yard. One of her children stands next to the counter. After a few minutes, F. arrives at the store, bringing with her a lot of merchandise as well as fruits and vegetables. We wonder whether a small restaurant is being set up here, but because of the language barrier, we aren’t able to determine its success. Perhaps in time, we will.
15:30 – Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint
The checkpoint isn’t staffed and there is little traffic.
15:45 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
There are still lots of cars parked around the checkpoint, including six trucks, waiting, perhaps until the next morning. Because of the Coronavirus, we don’t enter this crowded place. Many workers go down the sleeve (the enclosed, partially-roofed passage to the terminal) on their way home to the West Bank.
At the vehicle checkpoint, they stop us and ask to see our identity cards. Our guest wonders if they have the authority to do that.
16:00 – We return home on the road to East Barta’a (611). At this hour, we don’t see people crossing through the breaches in the fence, and we don’t see soldiers. Many cars are parked at the intersection at the entrance to East Barta’a, where there is a small market.
On the evening news, they announce that Esther Horgan’s murderer has been captured.
24.12.2020 צפון
נטע (מדווחת), עדינה (אורחת), צפרירה
14:50 מחסום טורה-שקד
שקט, ריק ומלוכלך כרגיל. שתי מכוניות עוברות מהגדה מערבה אל מרחב התפר. שמחנו לראות בשתיהן נשים נוהגות. אישה עם שקיות עוברת במחסום ברגל, מחכה שיבואו לקחת אותה. היא תושבת אום ריחן Um Reihan שבמרחב התפר, ערכה קניות בג’נין.
15:10 אנחנו חולפות על פני מחסום ברטעה. במגרשי החניה ובשולי הכביש חונות הרבה מכוניות. 6 משאיות קטנות ממתינות לבדיקה ליד מחסום הרכב. אנחנו ממשיכות מזרחה ועוצרות במכולת של פ’ בכפר אמריחה EMRICHA. פ’ הוסיפה שולחנות וכסאות בסככה המטופחת. ליד הדלפק ניצב אחד מבניה. כעבור כמה דקות היא מגיעה לחנות ומביאה איתה סחורה רבה, גם ירקות ופירות. אנחנו תוהות אם תקום כאן מסעדה קטנה, אך בגלל מחסום השפה אנחנו לא מצליחות לברר. נראה במשך הזמן.
15:30 מחסום יעבד-דותן
המחסום אינו מאויש והתנועה מעטה.
15:45 מחסום ברטעה-ריחן
עדיין חונות סביב המחסום מכוניות רבות, כולל 6 המשאיות שעדיין ממתינות (אולי למחר בבוקר?). בגלל הקורונה אנחנו לא נכנסות למקום הצפוף. המון פועלים יורדים בשרוול הרשת (שביל מגודר ומקורה בחלקו) בדרכם הביתה לגדה.
במחסום הרכב עוצרים אותנו ומבקשים תעודה מזהה. האורחת שלנו תוהה אם יש להם סמכות לכך.
16:00 אנחנו חוזרות הביתה בכביש לברטעה המזרחית (611). איננו רואות בשעה זו אנשים שעוברים דרך הפרצות בגדר וגם לא חיילים. בצומת הכניסה לברטעה המזרחית חונות מכוניות רבות ומתנהל שוק קטן.
בערב מודיעים בחדשות שנתפס רוצחה של אסתר הורגן.
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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