Barta’a/Reikhan,Tura/Shaked, Ya’bad/Mevo Dotan, Thursday 28.03.13 morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:10 A’anin checkpoint
Based on how few people are coming through the checkpoint it appears as if the occupation is operating particularly slowly today, and in fact people were complaining. Inspections were conducted in the middle of the checkpoint; we could barely see and weren’t able to hear what was going on there. A resident of A’anin came out and angrily said that his friend had been turned back even though he had a valid crossing permit. We telephoned the DCO; they checked his ID number and his permit was, in fact, valid. They promised to take care of it. In the meantime we dared to enter the checkpoint and before we were thrown out we tried to determine what was going on. We were told that the person presented an ID and crossing permit that didn’t belong to him (based on the photograph). We weren’t able to contact the man because we were given an incorrect phone number. The checkpoint and its surroundings are clear of refuse, the work of the cleaning contractor.
07:00 Tura-Shaked checkpoint. The money pours out.
A group of exuberant pupils and a few adults already wait at the entrance to the locked fenced corridor (in the photo) leading to the checkpoint, and then out to Tura, the West Bank, Area A. An officer arrives ten minutes later to unlock it. The children run through without inspection, the adults with cars show their documents and return to their vehicles. The crossing seems somewhat slow here as well. We again note that this small checkpoint is filled to overflowing with all kinds of innovations intended to increase military-security efficiency, but which mostly give the impression of unrestrained spending.
07:40 Yabed-Dothan checkpoint.
The town of Yabed and the settlement of Mevo Dothan observe one another and overlook the Dothan Valley from high on the hills. The narrow road to and from Yabed is blocked and locked by a heavy iron bar. The occupier’s heavy hand.
Three soldiers at the checkpoint are practicing some kind of defensive and offensive manoeuvers (“fire, fire, fire”), creating a line of cars in both directions (ten from the east, three from the west); the drivers are annoyed. The exercise concludes one minute after we arrive; the Palestinians, who are certain that it’s due to our magic touch, greet us respectfully. A driver stops beside us and says angrily that the exercise lasted a long time (“half a day”), that they’re delayed again and again, everywhere, and anyway “Our entire lives are now just inspections and more inspections!” A soldier approached us, asking that we not detain cars in the middle of the road. One of the soldiers is religious, one of those “sharing the burden.” Traffic flows in both directions with almost no inspections. They’ve begun renovating this checkpoint also: they’ve added many concrete barriers, opened an unpaved route parallel to the road, painted white whatever doesn’t move, added another transparent inspection booth, etc.
We surveyed the Reihan checkpoint as we drove by. It operated like clock
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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