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North, Tura: Why are they laughing?  Aren’t I a person?

Observers: Rachel Weizman, Ruti Tuval (Reporting) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham
Jun-23-2019
| Afternoon

 

14:55 – Hermesh Checkpoint

The checkpoint was quiet and a soldier observed us from the pillbox.

15:05 – Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint

Cars were driving through without being detained.

15:25 Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint

The parking lot on the Palestinian side was completely full.  We went to see if the irritating dirt barricade between the back parking lot and the far parking lot on the hill was still standing.   To our surprise it had been removed, and it is now possible to drive from the western side to the checkpoint.  One of the drivers told us that they had succeeded in getting the barrier removed by taking the issue to court.

16:15 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint – The Checkpoint was

While this report was being written Kassem called from Arakeh, our old informer from Tura Checkpoint.  He had returned to Um A Reihan in the seamline zone at 15:14 with a box of glass plates and cups that he had received as a gift.  He reported that he had lugged the box “Like a donkey on foot.” 

The soldier at the checkpoint demanded that he put the box through the X-Ray machine.  Kassem told him that the box was liable to fall from the end of the conveyer belt and that everything would be broken, and when that happened, the soldier burst out laughing. 

Kassem asked: “Why are they laughing?  Aren’t I a person?”  The soldier continued to harass him and asked what the dust was on his hands and shoes, where had he been and what had he been doing?  “You can’t go to Um A Reihan.  I’ll confiscate your license.”

The soldier took his crossing permit for several minutes and eventually returned it. 

Kassem explained: “I told the soldier that at my age I’m permitted to go wherever I want and it’s shameful that he is talking disrespectfully to a person who is old enough to be his father.  He added: “There was not a single cup that was not broken.  Isn’t it enough that they took 53 dunams (13 acres) of land for the separation barrier?”

 

  • 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).

  • Hermesh

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    • Hermesh

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
  • 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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