Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Mon 4.8.08, Morning
Translation: Devorah K.
On our way to the lower parking lot we see people who have already gone through the terminal on their way to Tsameret in the seamline zone.
In the lower parking lot there are practically no people waiting, nor are there many waiting in the queue inside the terminal. People come to the CP on foot from the bridge on the opposite hill, in groups. The seamstresses arrive in taxis and all of them are swallowed up by the terminal immediately.
A group of men pray in the shed before they enter the terminal. A woman's voice from the depths of the hut instructs those going through (in Arabic) to put their bags down on the table. The atmosphere is calm and quiet. In the vehicle CP they are inspecting a number of private cars. Nine pickup trucks loaded with goods are waiting for the opening at 06:00. The duration of their inspection is between two and three hours – depending on the quantity of goods that they have on them. In the east an astounding orange sun is rising to remind us that it is already dawn.
6:03 A'anin CP (agricultural CP)
The CP has just opened – they are making final preparations for the passage. Three soldiers and a security guard are standing with their weapons drawn facing east – "'from whence evil will come."
The passage is quick with no special delays. First the tractors go through with many young people on them. A man who is selling prickly pears and dates stops us and succeeds in convincing us to buy some; the dates are wonderful.
Some people are concerned that members of their families have not yet received permits to go through to their farms. The olive-picking season is approaching. 06:40 Military reinforcements arrive and just now the tempo is slowed down a great deal. A soldier reminds us, impolitely, that this is "a closed military area" and we have to get out.
07:00 Shaked (Tura) CP
A herd of sheep precedes us and goes through the CP to the seamline zone. People who are not residents of the enclave (the seamline zone) are inspected in the hut – 2-3 minutes per person. A soldier with his weapon drawn and carefully aimed at the West Bank, peeks at us over his shoulder to see that we are not stepping over the forbidden line. A resident of Daher-el-Malek, who looks very respectable, asks to transport four sacks of carobs for fodder to his house. They allow him to take only one. We called the DCO and gave his telephone number to the officer so that the man himself would be given a response.
07:45 Reihan (New Barta'a) CP
The occupation goes on. Six pickup trucks are waiting. People come and enter the terminal immediately. On the fence there is a note about a wallet with money that was found and the telephone number of the honest person who found it. The drivers are bored.
ca. 09:40 Jalameh CP
We've come here in order to pick up a sick Palestinian youth who is accompanying his father to Rambam Hospital for chemotherapy. Two posts are open for entering Israel and one for leaving. Most of those leaving are Israeli Arabs. Six buses for visiting prisoners in prisons in Israel are waiting for their passengers. Many many women, old men, and little children are running around in the CP. There is a lot of noise and excitement in the air. The permit is for visits in the course of half a year – once a month for three quarters of an hour. People are not allowed to give anything to a prisoner. A woman told me that her husband has been in prison for eleven months without a sentence; another one told us about a prisoner who has three sentences of life imprisonment and another fifty years. His wife, a young woman with two little children is on her way to visit him. A young woman was sent back to Jenin because there was some irregularity in her documents. Her mother is very disappointed and claims that the mistake was made in the Bet El DCO.
10:00 We left.
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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Jalama
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North of Jenin, on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. A big terminal for the passage of Palestinians with permits allowing entrance into Israel and goods into Israel operates there. In the course of 2009 the terminal was opened for the passage of Israeli Arabic citizens into the West Bank. Since October 2009 they may pass in their cars.
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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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