Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
15:00 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
We picked up two hitchhikers on the way to the checkpoint. One was going to Um A Reihan and the other continued to the checkpoint with us and crossed to the West Bank. We succeeded in understanding that he was a Bedouin who lived near the settlement of Tal Menashe in the seamline zone but because of the language barrier we did not understand where his village was or why he crossed to the West Bank.
There was very little traffic at the checkpoint, but there was a lot of litter. The garbage container had been emptied but no one had cleaned up around it.
15:30 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
We drove by the full parking lots on both sides of the road leading to Jenin. The side road that leads to this road from Yaabed is permanently locked by a metal gate. We saw a long line of cars driving towards Jenin and Yaabed in front of the checkpoint as well as in the other direction. The checkpoint is manned and there are only random checks, and the checkpoint is filled with deep cracks, slowing traffic down and causing traffic to back up in a long line. People are hurrying home after a long day’s work and complaining about the delay. The situation is similar in the morning. People complain about the cracks in the road that damage their tires and vehicles. They asked if we could help, but there is nothing we can do.
16:00 – Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
A lot of vehicles are parked in a disorderly fashion in the big parking lot. A Palestinian attendant is present. One of the drivers explained that a representative from the Liaison and Coordination Administration and the checkpoint managers will not let him sell pastries from his car. It is difficult to understand why. There is a booth under the awning that sells snacks and drinks and another booth belonging to the Wataniya Mobile Company. People asked for help receiving an agricultural permit and another in eliminating a police prohibition to enter Israel and another man, who is over 55, to eliminate a prohibition to enter by the security services that prevents him from utilizing his right to enter Israel without a permit due to his age. Our guest gets the impression that people appear to be happy and contented. This is evidently due to work that allows people to make a living despite the difficult conditions.
16:45 – We returned through the city of Barta’a. The main street is a crowded market. The attempts of the regional authority to improve the city have disappeared under mountains of old cardboard boxes that are lying in the street in front of the stores.
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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