Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan
- The settlement is not only 5 minutes from Kfar Saba, but also only 7 minutes from Harish.
- Palestinian security guards, armed with truncheon, create order at Barta’a Checkpoint enterance.
proximity of Harish city. Israeli flag provides the authorization to commercialize the stolen land.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint, 05:55
On the seamline side there are already a lot of people waiting for transportation. Many others go up to the terminal via the fenced path (the sleeve) and join in those waiting.
On the Palestinian side, to our surprise, the parking lot is not full at all. Maybe the fee of 5 shekel a day for parking deters many drivers who park on the sides of the road, some distance from the checkpoint, and also in the two “private” parking lots above the road. A double line of those waiting to enter reaches to the end of the parking lot. The line is orderly and totally quiet. The sight of it is depressing. Three Palestinian security guards supervise the line. They are dressed in black vests and are equipped with tear gas, truncheons and walkie-talkies. They work for the Palestinian security company called TMS SECURITY (“True More Safe”). The person responsible on behalf of the company, in a special car, supervises the attendants. A., the senior and charismatic volunteer attendant, also helps the people coming in large groups of about 120 people each time.
06:35 – There is no line. The few who come at this hour enter immediately.
We are told that the East Barta’a Council and the Jenin Governorate pay the salary of the security guards and the local council receives the money from parking. We don’t see how they pay. We understand that the drivers of the transportation vehicles, who do not stay all day in the lot, do not pay.
Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint, 06:45
The checkpoint is not manned and also there is no traffic at this hour. For some reason, all the lights are on in the area of the checkpoint and also on the guard tower on the way.
06:55 We pass by the Barta’a Checkpoint. There are already almost no one waiting and also there are no transport vehicles on the side of the Seamline Zone. People have already traveled to their places of work.
Tura-Shaked Checkpoint, 0:05
They tell us that the checkpoint was opened on time, at 06:30. Few pass at this hour. Three cars wait for them. A woman waits for a ride. She is a resident of Tura, a teacher by profession, but works as a secretary for a dentist in Barta’a.
The garbage bin was emptied, but the area is very dirty and there are many old tires.
07:15 – We leave with a heavy heart. The orderly arrangement at the Barta’a Checkpoint is efficient, but is depressing and is even scary.
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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