Barta'a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya'bed-Dotan
06:00 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
The upper parking lot and surrounding area was filled with vehicles and workers who arrived from the West Bank. They are gathering next to them or are waiting for others. In the lower, Palestinian parking lot, there are still parking places and we are invited to park there. But surprise – there is absolutely no line at the entrance to the terminal! They tell us that for a week already, there are no lines at Barta’a Checkpoint in the morning. Suddenly a small line of 10 – 15 people forms because the turnstile is locked when an army vehicle crosses the checkpoint on the road between the turnstile and the terminal. A notice in Arabic hangs next to the turnstile, which explains that anyone who arrives after 11:00 a.m., has to ring the bell and someone will come to open it. Someone asks for our help with removing a prohibition from entering Israel and we refer him to Tami. 06:40 – Yabed-Dotan Checkpoint Indeed no one delays the cars at this checkpoint, but they are moving as if in slow motion from ruts in the road. We have already reported about these especially deep ruts that injure the cars and make the drivers crazy. On our way back to the next checkpoint, we saw that at Barta’a Checkpoint a line formed in any case, but indeed, it was not long.
07:10 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint It was opened on time, at 06:30 (this doesn’t always happen) but the passage is very slow. People complain that the new female soldier in the inspection room doesn’t know her work. Someone says that next to her is “an Arab soldier who doesn’t behave well with people.” It appears this is a new company manning the checkpoint. Even school children pass through the inspection room this morning, something that additionally delays the passage of the workers. We didn’t see this with our own eyes, but saw pupils that crossed the checkpoint on the main road. Many cars pass in two directions, and to us it didn’t seem that they were new soldiers. At 07:50, there already was no line at the turnstile
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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