Creeping Annexation and Ramadan
Tura-Shaked checkpoint 15.30
An Israeli Ambulance passes through the checkpoint speedily and continues towards the West Bank. Four Palestinian cars loaded with men, women and many children enter the Separation Fence area. An aura of the beginning of the Ramadan month
On the roads at the Seam-line Zone and the West Bank, flags of the Shomron Regional Council and Israeli flags are fluttering in the wind – adding to the ambience of our Independence Day. The creeping Annexation advances, and along the roads in the Seam Zone electric cables have already been placed and the bases for lighting posts have been prepared.
Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint 16.15
The checkpoint isn’t manned, and the Jenin-Tulkarm road sports lively traffic in both direction. The fields on both sides of the road have recently been planted and are now covered by plastic sheets
Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint 16.40
The large parking lot and its adjascant road are relatively empty, probably due to the workers’ early return home for the Ramadan. The holiday preparations are also apparent in the kiosk, as its dining areas are covered by cloth. An East-Barta’a resident coming back from Jenin with several days worth of groceries tells us that he was detained in the terminal for 40 minutes while his groceries were painstakingly examined. He tells us that he’d been working at a university in Nicosia, Cyprus, but worsening conditions there compelled him to return
Workers from Barta’a, Harish and Israel arrive and go down to the terminal through the sleeve. Some of them, perhaps workers who stay overnight at their job sites who are now coming home for the Ramadan period. Conversing with us they all complain about the long sleeve (which was recently doubled in length) that they must walk through from the parking lot to the terminal
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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