Jalama, Reihan, Shaked, Sun 14.6.09, Morning
Translation: Bracha
05:30: Reihan-Barta’a
The checkpoint opens on time. One person tells us about a problem with the computer that was apparently solved to the satisfaction of the rest of the workers, who are leaving the terminal this morning smiling and pleased. “Walla, this morning everything is just fine,” says one. The women, dressed up and smiling as well, are not in a hurry: the cars that brought them are being checked anyway. Only one window is operating, but there is no backup. One woman who just came out tells us excitedly about her sister who is not being permitted to go through because of the palm reading device. We approach the female checkpoint staff member at the window. After a few minutes three men appear and we hear a shout from within the terminal, “Let her in. I approve.” The sister’s problem was solved this time, but an overall solution to this problem has to be demanded so that people will not have to go to Jalameh and lose precious work days.
At 6:00 there is little traffic in the exit sleeve towards the seamline zone. Vans with merchandise are being checked in the new inspection facility. There are no vans in the lower parking lot. An owner of a transit explains that those who are being checked are carrying merchandise from yesterday, and fresh merchandise will only arrive around 9:00. There is no one at the entrance gate to the terminal. A., the driver, brings three workers at 6:17 and another nine at 6:20 and they enter without remaining in the terminal. Cars leave the vehicle inspection facility after 20 minutes.
06:45 Shaked-Tura
We arrived at the checkpoint earlier than usual and saw a heartbreaking scene – a donkey was entangled in the barbed wire fence and could not get out. Its legs were bleeding and it was frightened when we approached it. The soldiers arrived on foot at 6:50 and we called their attention to the donkey and asked for help. Their commander promised to help. At 6:55 two military vehicles passed us and they were also asked to help. At 7:00 when the gates opened the owner of the donkey– a resident of Dahar el Malak – arrived holding a rope. He had been looking for the donkey for four hours and was permitted to enter the inner side of the fence. The students are on summer vacation. Passage in both directions this morning takes place without any delays. The owner finally freed the donkey with a little help from the soldiers on this side of the fence and from the commander from the other side. The soldiers in the patrol car were also concerned and came back shortly after the donkey was set free.
08:00 Jalameh CheckpointWe pick up the little girl Aya and her mother and another man, a father who wanted to join his four-year-old son, who has undergone open heart surgery yesterday at Rambam Hospital.
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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