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Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan, Sat 22.6.13, Morning

Observers: Rachela H., Noa L. (reporting)
Jun-22-2013
| Morning

Translation: Yael Bassis-Student

 

0730 – 0800  Tura-Shaked  

This morning traffic is heavier than usual. One person tells us that he has been waiting here since six a.m. and only now he has gone through (on Saturdays the gate opensonly at 7 am) A group of 15 teachers from Jenin crosses one by one; They came to examine pupils from Palestinian Bartra'a and are waiting for their transportation. Their passage has taken more than twenty minutes. The last one was the school principal who was holding an envelope with today's exams (English). They showed us the exam schedule – there are at least 10 exams, most of them already taken. The female teachers complain of the delay, the inspection and of how they are being treated at the checkpoint. They cross daily to supervise the exams, and they need to get to school on time. On several occasions they were denied passage and it is hard and humiliating.

 

0810 – 0850   Barta'a-Rihan checkpoint

Barta'a is also busier today than usual . Those coming out of the terminal report of many more still inside and inspection takes between half an hour to an hour for each person. Two windows are open and it looks like the problem is in the rooms inside and not at the windows.

 

0915  Ya'abed-Dotan checkpoint  

We drove to see the situation at Ya'abed. As we came out of Barta'a we saw a convoy of 8 vehicles, loaded with merchandise, awaiting inspection as they arrive from the West Bank. Such a convoy is  a rare sight on Saturdays. Usually it is not allowed to bring in goods on Sat. At Ya'abed checkpoint, each side receives ten minutes for passage while vehicles on the opposite side, wait.

 

Back to the Barta'a checkpoint, That same convoy of loaded  vehicles is still awaiting inspection.

We're on the Jewish lane and sure enough cross over easily.

  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
  • 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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