Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
Tura – Shaked Checkpoint, 06:45
We are used to arriving at 07:00 when the checkpoint opens. We read in previous reports that there have been numerous delays recently in opening the checkpoint, but we tried. We walked about the open checkpoint on the seamline zone side. We saw a "living room" with a square table and chair and a soft drinks vending machine. We saw the cars waiting on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint and people waiting to get to work.
A civilian vehicle carrying reservists arrived 30 minutes late to open the checkpoint. Several men and women soldiers on active duty followed them. People who work in the Shahak Industrial zone usually begin work at 07:00, when there is very little traffic at the checkpoint. This time the waiting continued until 08:00. On the other hand, people tell us that they crossed quickly because they merely have to place their finger on the biometer rather than cross via the machine. However, we saw one man fastening his belt after having been asked to remove it because of the metal parts.
A large truck arrives to take the vending machine away. It is a private business and it is not worth it for them to keep it here. As usual, the area around the checkpoint is covered with litter.
Reihan – Barta'a
We passed the lower parking lot of the Reihan – Barta'a Checkpoint on our way to Dotan, and it was empty except for one red car. The reservists told us that the parking lot is being renovated today and cars are not allowed to park there. We saw that there was more than the usual amount of cars parked along the locked yellow gates near the bridge and along the other side of the road near Zibda. We also saw people coming down the road towards the terminal from Zibda where there was evidently another large parking lot. Soldiers were also standing at the Emricha junction telling people that they needed to park elsewhere because the parking lot at Reihan – Barta'a was closed.
Later we talked with people coming up the sleeve from the terminal. The people selling coffee at the end of the sleeve are no longer there. Possibly they were asked to leave and only the kiosk belonging to the settlers was allowed to stay. They have a better spot in the middle of the sleeve and a window through which Palestinians can buy coffee on their way out of the terminal. The checkpoint workers and settlers have direct access to the kiosk from the outside of the sleeve. Evidently business is good.
Several Palestinians passed carrying cups of coffee they had bought for NIS 5 (perhaps latte) and paper bags with some sort of cake. I imagine the large spaces reserved for buses that never come here being eliminated, and perhaps concrete separators between the rows of spaces reserved for private cars like in any typical parking lot at a shopping mall. The renovations are supposed to take only one day.
Yaabed – Mevo Dotan
People are picking tobacco and hanging the leaves up to dry. There is a large puddle on the way to Mevo Dotan from a burst pipe at the facility where water is pumped from Mekorot to the Palestinian Authority. We called the Liaison and Coordination Administration and were told that they know about it and it will be taken care of. The soldier at the checkpoint informed us that it was just water for the Palestinians and therefore not important. We informed him of the importance of water to the entire area.
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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