Checkpoint Ya`abed: For sale a real and cheap house in the Dotan settlement
North 09.01.2020
14:30 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
Two cars crossed to the seamline zone and one to the West Bank. A woman crossed on foot to the seamline zone. Only the wise people of the checkpoints know what all this sophisticated monitoring equipment is doing in this empty place. New superfluous buildings have been completed in the settlement of Shaked that are bright white in color.
We passed Barta’a Checkpoint and stopped in Emricha at the attractive store that belongs to our friend F. She and two of her daughters received us happily. We continued to Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint and saw children working in the field putting up low plastic covers over crops. ON the way we saw a lot of military vehicles.
15:15 – Ya`abed-Dotan Checkpoint
Traffic was moving freely in both directions. It was slowed down only by the concrete blocks. A colorful sign with the checkpoint facilities in the background advertised private homes on sale in the settlement of Mevo Dotan for a price of 1,800.000 Shekels. The builder “Gold Mountain” does not mention that the houses have been built in a place where we have no right to be. Another sign cautions drivers to drive carefully and not to cross the unbroken divider line on the road. Next to this sign was a sign pointing to Afula and Sa-Nur (which has not existed since the disengagement and evacuation of northern Samaria in 2005). The Arabic on the signs has been erased. They did not reach the high sign pointing to Hermesh. There are, of course, no signs directing drivers to the city of Jenin or Yaabed nearby.
15:50 – Hermesh Checkpoint
As usual the road is open to everyone for everyone who is permitted to enter Area A. A tractor entered the dirt road leading from the checkpoint to the watchtower. We wondered where it was going but we were hesitant to drive down the muddy road and follow it.
15:45 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint, Palestinian Side
The parking lot was completely full. The Palestinian attendants were still on duty. Many drivers were waiting for passengers, and the younger drivers were passing the time together at the opening to the sheltered passage. One of the drivers complained that there is no awning to protect them from the rain while they wait for passengers. Another driver reminded us that he serves in the Palestinian police and Sylvia’s team was consequently unable to help eliminate his security ban. 20 years ago he spent three and a half years in the Ketziot prison because he was an activist in the Heroes of the Al Aktsa Brigade during the second Intifada. Today he is the father of four and the NIS 3,000 is not enough to support his family. He works as a driver to help earn a living and dreams of having his entry ban to Israel lifted and receiving a permit to work in Israel. He also told us that as of December 31st 2019 people can enter Israel here in the morning for all people from the area of Jenin who have the appropriate work permit. This is a significant improvement over having to cross at the Ephraim – Irtah Gate or Jalameh and saves time and money. Two young people returned from work carrying colorful bouquets of flowers and others carried elegant bar stools.
16:00 – Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side
Many workers were returning at this time of day. We met W. who works in Barta’a and his younger brother S. who works on Route 6. We met them when they were children selling coffee and snacks at this checkpoint and today they are married and have children. Some of the workers bought boxes of fresh cakes at the settler’s kiosk to take home for the weekend. There were two inspection windows open in the terminal – enough for the small amount of people crossing to the seamline zone – most of whom were attractive smiling women. People going home to the West Bank were crossing quickly. Girls from a seminary were waiting at the pick-up stop to go home. They told us that they were residents of Mevo Dotan. A woman and her three tired daughters who were residents of Barta’a were waiting at the pick up stop on the seamline zone side.
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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Hermesh
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Hermesh
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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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