Barta’a-Reihan, Tura-Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan,Sun 16.6.13, Morning
07:35-08:00 Tura-Shaked
The checkpoint is crowded this Saturday as well, even more than usual. We arrived a little late; all the teachers from Jenin who’d come to administer baccalaureate exams in Barta’a (today in math) had already gone through. We understood that the procedure today went more quickly and respectfully than it did last week. We see the principals arriving, carrying the exam envelopes. All wait to be driven to the school in Barta’a. Traffic is fairly heavy in both directions; the crossing goes relatively quickly.
08:10-08:40 Barta’a-Reihan
We see that the padded revolving gate at the entrance to the terminal has been moved to another location; it’s now closed with a “no entry” sign. We think that may be a good sign – perhaps, as at Jalameh, people returning home to the West Bank will be able to go through without inspection. One man says that’s what he believes will happen. Meanwhile traffic is, as usual, heavy in both directions. How’s the crossing? “So-so.” Some went through in ten minutes; others say it took them half an hour or longer.
08:45 We then drove to the Yabed-Dothan checkpoint. Mari, Amjad’s daughter, was hospitalized at Rambam to be operated on immediately after she had felt ill (she’d recently undergone a difficult, complicated operation). Thanks to the uncompromising efforts of Yuval Roth, from “Yad LeHakhlama,” and of our colleague Ruti (Amjad’s on the Shabak blacklist), Mari had reached Rambam, was examined and was immediately operated on. Amjad came and stayed with her; he’d brought no personal belongings and now we’re driving to the Yabed checkpoint to pick up things sent by his family and bring them to him. While waiting for the parcel to arrive we see fairly long lines on both sides of the checkpoint. Today every car is being inspected for a long time.
09:30 Back to the Barta’a checkpoint. The security guard asks us where we’ve been, were we given anything to take through, and bingo! – we’re very respectfully (really) sent to be inspected in the green vehicle inspection shed – but quickly, without having to wait in line. After all – we’re Jews. That’s how we were able to see this checkpoint from inside. Today the accessories include dogs and flashlights, but for us they make do with carefully inspecting Amjad’s bag.
10:00 On the way home we go to the house that was demolished yesterday at the junction of the Wadi Ara – Qatzir road, right next to the main road. It had three stories, was 50 years old, housed three generations of a family, on land which was registered in their name in the Tabu. They paid municipal taxes to the Menashe Regional Council but, of course, received no services in return. A demolition order was issued for the house years ago; the matter was discussed in the Lands Authority, the regional council, the courts, etc. After all, no building permits are being issued, so where will they build? Where will they live? On their land? Now there’s an excuse – they’re being moved because of a rail line (!) that will be laid there, probably when the Messiah arrives. So, at 1 AM, with no advance notice, a bus arrived carrying high school students on vacation (employed by a manpower agency) along with police cars and three bulldozers. The inhabitants were given ten minutes to get out. Of course, they weren’t able to remove any of their belongings. Those carrying out the evacuation threw some furniture out of the windows, as if they were “removing” it. The family wasn’t even allowed to remove the children’s schoolbags. Now there’s a huge pile of rubble covering all the family’s possessions. A curtain flaps amid the ruins.
Members of the family erected a sign atop the pile of rubble: “Made in Israel.” It’s all our handiwork, of course, in our country. Where will the shame and disgrace end? We had tears in our eyes. But, nevertheless, we found a source of strength and nobility: all the members of the family, who are now living in tents on their land, vow not to abandon it even in the case of a khamsin or a cold wave. They’re supporting each other, preserving their sanity.
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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