Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
15:30 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
The elaborate checkpoint is wide open and is rather empty. A young man, who looks like a student, returns home. A number of women in fancy dress with young girls who carry presents, go out from the checkpoint and it looked like they were headed to some family celebration. They walk in the direction of a small village next to the checkpoint, Daher el Malec, which is still not connected to electricity, an issue that has been rolling around between authorities for many years.
One car waits for someone, another car passes from here to there. A tractor enters the checkpoint, is the farmer returns from work on his land?
Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint
Two weeks ago we reported on a long line in this checkpoint. From a distance we thought then that the occupation soldiers had returned to checking documents, but as we got closer it was clear that the long queue was created by deep slots in the road that forced the drivers to slow down to prevent damage to their cars. This disruption in the road was done in reaction to shots fired from one of the cars that passed through the checkpoint. (My grandson, a graduate of a fighting unit, claims that the army doesn’t just seek hard work. The conclusion: this is a dangerous place.) The deep holes are still there and on the dirt road on the side of the concrete obstacle blocks, a small private car has been parked for two weeks. The soldiers don’t know what and whose car it is. Two soldiers meet us with astonishment. They don’t know what to make of us and ask to see our identity cards. (Rachel also presented them with our identity tags). They call the advanced command post and it seems that there, they are not concerned.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
All the parking lots are completely filled. In the truck parking lot, a truck with vegetables that passed through the Ya’bed checkpoint when we were there, now waits, it appears, to be inspected tomorrow morning.
We went up to the upper parking lot and there we saw an unending stream of workers who are returning from a day of work in the area, most of them arriving by transportation provided by their Israeli employers. How many employers are building the new city of Harish?
We went down with the stream of workers through the sleeve to the terminal. The settler’s kiosk is already closed. The turnstile turns without ceasing. The biometric machines are not in use anymore. In the past, next to the machines, there would be a crowded long line. The atmosphere of absurdity continues…
15:30 – We decided to return home through the constructed Harish, but on the road from Barta’a junction many workers were walking and on both sides of the road, many cars were parked. We wonder what was going on there. Perhaps a demonstration? Perhaps a celebration? We turned around and traveled home the regular road.
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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