Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan, Sun 2.6.13, Afternoon
Translation: Bracha B.A.
The weather was extremely hot, and our shift passed without any unusual incidents.
Shaked – Tura Checkpoint 15:40
This checkpoint is known in laundered military language as a "fabric of life" checkpoint, and is designated to allow residents of the Palestinian villages to continue with their daily lives despite the barrier that separates them from their families, and farmers from their fields. This is accomplished by allowing anyone who has a valid permit and anyone who is not carrying anything forbidden – to cross the checkpoint. All the gates of the checkpoint are open. At this time of day a few people are crossing in both directions.
Two ten-year-old children, carrying plastic bags, cross and sit on the bench in the shelter near the gate (a container with one side cut open). An older man sits next to them. A student from the American University in Jenin is also waiting on the bench. They are waiting for a ride. The older man seemed to be explaining to the children about us, about human rights, and about the soldiers' behavior.
A ride arrives: the same driver who takes the children to school in the morning picks them up in the afternoon. He has to make a living. He has a problem related to making a living: he has a field of tobacco on the seamline zone side. The leaves must be brought to Jenin to be cut and processed. Only four people have permits to transport tobacco leaves to the West Bank, but he has no such permit. (Perhaps an agricultural permit). This is possibly the reason he is not permitted to transport his tobacco. This incident has beeen publicized last week. We gave him Hannah's phone number, perhaps she can help.
The older man sent the children back to the West Bank. He, the student, and another woman left with the children's driver. Meanwhile the children, carrying their bags, appear on the other side of the fence in front of the turnstile, before the roadblock, and we see after a few minutes that they were not allowed to cross and come back. Ruthi attempts to find out why they were sent back. It appears that they had cigarettes in their bags, which were declared by the army to be an amount for commercial sale. We instinctively oppose young children smuggling cigarettes, but then we realize that people here are attempting to make a living and that this is what the "fabric of life" is supposed to allow. But a driver is not allowed to grow tobacco; whoever has a permit to visit family is not allowed to sell cigarettes, since he is not defined as a merchant. If I were able to speak to someone in the Liaison and Coordination Administration perhaps I would be given a more logical explanation.
We passed Reihan Barta'a checkpoint and continued on to the Dotan checkpoint, to leave used clothing in the Bedouin village of Emricha.
16:00 Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint
A white military ambulance is standing at the Mevo Dotan Junction and another passes in the same direction. An armed soldier is standing in the paved area behind the low wall. It appears that there is some sort of exercise in progress.
A reservist invites us to stand near the concrete barriers where we always stand. We will supposedly be safer there, despite the fact that we are not allowed to stand inside the checkpoint. We stayed for only a few minutes. Vehicles were passing in both directions without any delay.
16:40 Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
Workers and merchants arrive from Barta'a on their way home alone or in small groups. The turnstile is no longer closing in people's faces after only a few people come in. Only one inspector is working in one window but apparently she has succeeded in operating it from both directions. People cross quickly without delay.
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)
Ruti TuvalMar-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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