Mevo Dotan (Imriha), Reihan, Shaked, Sun 1.5.11, Afternoon
Shaked CP (15:00-15:30
The gates are open. A Palestinian fellow in his car greets us; he is insulted and very angry because of the way the soldiers at the CP have behaved towards him. From what he said we could not understand exactly what the problem was. From some distance four soldiers could be seen standing near a Palestinian driver, with their guns pointed toward the ground, but with their fingers on the triggers. They had their backs turned to us — 'We're not talking to you.' In the recent past, the procedure for inspecting cars going towards the West Bank was as follows: The vehicle enters through the gate and halts near the CP stones. The driver gets out of the car and goes to be inspected in the inspection room. After the inspection, he returns, starts his car and drives into the area of the CP, and then the documents and the vehicle are inspected.
Today the procedure was different. The vehicle remains outside the gate, and in order to be certain of this a ragged red plastic barrier was set up (shameful, because of the reduced security budget!)
Further , we did not observe discourteous behavior and Sergeant Eden, the woman in command of the CP, approached us to talk to us on her own initiative. She introduced herself and said that all the CP soldiers have an identity tag with their names. (We did not look for these and we did not see them, but she sounded reliable.) I must note that everything she said about the way a CP embedded in 'the tissue of life' such as this one has to be conducted, sounded appropriate. Eden showed understanding for the difficulties that the Palestinians have to confront at the CP, but she said that statistics prove that the fence is necessary and she does not have the capacity to change the situation.
Another few vehicles went through and several pedestrians as well. The Cp emptied out and we left.
Dotan CP 15:40-15:55
We stopped in the village of Ameriha and there we left bags of clothes. At the Dothan CP we could see already from a distance that the soldiers are reservists. Their behavior was not at all tense, as was that of the young soldiers at Shaked. We heard them announcing our coming, "The women from Machsomwatch have arrived!" We saw that the traffic was flowing without any interruptions, and we left.
Reihan CP 16:05-16:55
The lower parking lot is full of cars; it was impossible to get a pin in. We saw four trucks with agricultural goods, covered with nylon, standing in the lot with no intention of entering for inspection. We were told that the goods trucks can enter for inspection only between six and twelve in the morning. Whoever does not manage to get there then, leaves the vehicle with the goods until the following morning. And what if there are vegetables? What will they look like in the shop on the next day?
We drove up to the upper parking lot and we walked down the terminal sleeve. Those coming back from work arrived one at a time, and the traffic increased steadily until the time we left. At the beginning only one window was open, and afterwards, we saw that an additional window was opened for those coming from the opposite direction, from the West Bank to the seamline zone. There was no crowding and the atmosphere was calm. We have all become habituated, and if there are no special disturbances, we have the impression that everything is all right. BUT FOR ALL THAT WE DO REMEMBER THAT THINGS ARE NOT REALLY ALL RIGHT.
Near the entrance/exit the secretary of the town council of (Palestinian) East Barta'a was waiting for some expert engineer who was to do some inspection in the village. The expert does not have a magnetic card, but the secretary coordinated his arrival in advance and there were no problems. It seems that there are good relations between the council and the administration in charge of passage at the CP and it is possible to overcome difficulties that come up. We heard from him a bit about procedures in the village, about the budgets and contributions to projects such as the installation of pipes.
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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