Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan, Sun 14.7.13, Afternoon
Translation: Bracha B.A.
Mari is returning home after 17 days of hospitalization and 4 operations at Rambam Hospital, in Haifa. We drive her as far as the Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint.
16:25 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint
The checkpoint is manned. Vehicles are crossing without delay, at least in Area C where we are waiting for the driver who is on his way to pick up Mari and her father. Meanwhile I go up to the white concrete barriers and the soldiers approach. When the taxi will cross the soldiers will just ask how the child is feeling and wave to her.
On my way back to the Barta'a Checkpoint I encountered a group of soldiers near Yaabed Checkpoint near the village of Emricha. I was not able to stop safely because the road is narrow and cars are speeding along to pick workers up at the checkpoint.
17:00 – Reihan – Barta'a Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
The parking lot is not too crowded. Hadi, the nice owner of the concession stand, whose name in Arabic means "calm" (similar to the word "hadiyyeh" or lack of hostilities), has finished cleaning up for the day. The concession stand is closed for the month of Ramadan. He works five days a week for eight hours a day and earns NIS 1800 a month. His father, who is handicapped, works part time as a driver for short distances only. Hadi is waiting for a permit to enter the seamline zone and then to enter Israel, because he misses Haifa.
Suddenly a group of people arrives and excitedly report that soldiers have detained them at the Yaabed Checkpoint. That's what I saw before, out of the corner of my eye. The checkpoint was locked for a long time and has been open for five days because of Ramadan. They were detained because someone was throwing stones. "Who, me?" Declares one of them. "If I catch anyone throwing stones I'll cut his hands off." At any rate, there were no stones thrown on the road.
17:40 – Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side
There is a new green covering opposite the exit gate in back of the sign that points to the biometer inspection point. Everyone is going there. I ask someone what will happen if he doesn't place his finger and if there is another inspection point on the way out. He says there is not, but that tomorrow morning he would be asked why he didn't come back. We laugh, "But you came from Palestine, how could it be that you didn't come back yesterday?" There is no common sense in security measures here.
18:00 – Shaked – Tura Checkpoint
Three or four people and a couple of vehicles crossed this "fabric of life" checkpoint while I was there. The checkpoint is immaculately equipped.
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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