Northern checkpoints: and the flowers go to the occupation
14:20 Tura-Shaked checkpoint
Low traffic and a lot of dirt, as usual at this checkpoint. A young man waits in the shed for a car to pick him up, a smiling woman walks to the Seam Zone and greets us warmly. The family car passes by and picks her up. To all the unnecessary facilities that this low-traffic checkpoint is equipped with, a sign was added from Linum Ltd., the Seam Zone maintenance (0001). To our shame, we did not check whether the maintenance company would repair the gap near the checkpoint. Hopefully not.
We pass the Barta’a checkpoint, four trucks waiting to be inspected at the lot in front of the vehicle checkpoint.
14:50 Ya’bed-Dotan checkpoint
On the way from the village of Amriha, at the foot of the pillbox near the checkpoint, we notice on the ground the burnt, black marks, evidence of the attempted ramming attack (according to the IDF) that was here on Tuesday evening. There are no soldiers at the checkpoint itself and the traffic is uninterrupted.
15:10 Barta’a-Rihan checkpoint
The trucks are no longer in place. Due to parking difficulties we move to the side of the Seam Zone. Few workers return at this early hour, including several women. We go down with them in the sleeve (covered and fenced path for pedestrians) and enjoy the roses blooming beyond the fence, at the foot of the stairs leading up to the guard tower. At this checkpoint, care is taken to cultivate the surrounding, which is also part of the absurd theater of the occupation and its derivatives. On our way back to the parking lot we receive many blessings, the most touching coming from two beautiful young sisters. Seems like the rainy but not stormy weather, and the pleasant coolness, does good for everyone.
15:40 Road 611
We did not see any movement of people passing through the breaches in the separation fence, but the many cars parked at the foot of the village of Kaikis indicate that they passed there in the morning. Several shuttles are parked on the side of the road. A resident of East Barta’a approached us and told us about his daughter, a 16-year-old student, who was harassed by the GSS due to an Instagram post. According to the father, she has no telephone at all and it is not clear what this is about. When she returns from Jenin to the seam area, she is detained for about two hours at the Barta’a checkpoint. We gave him Sylvia’s details, maybe the prevention team could help in such a case.
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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