Northern Checkpoints, Barta`a: less and less people cross the large checkpoint
5:45 a.m. Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
By the roadside, on the seamline-zone side of the checkpoint, a few workers await their transport after having crossed the checkpoint. There are also transport vehicles awaiting their passengers.
The car park on the Palestinian side is rather empty, the Palestinian caretakers are bored… The metal crossing shed has an opening to shorten people’s way to the turnstiles. At times it is locked, today it’s open and a set of matching stairs and a banister are even there. One of the drivers, waiting for his passengers to the West Bank, says that since the workers have been forbidden to cross here to Israel in the morning, and only workers in the seamline-zone itself are permitted to cross before 8 a.m., only about 1000 people use the checkpoint. In spite of the relatively small number of people crossing, they jam from time to time at the entrance to the terminal building where inspections take place.
We continue to Hermesh checkpoint. The gate on the road is open and unmanned. There is an increase in signs warning Israelis not to enter Area A. New lighting fixtures line the road connecting settler-colonies Hermesh and Mevo Dotan. The Bedouin village Amriha is still sleepy. Even our friend’s fancy grocery store is still closed. Ya’abad-Dotan Checkpoint is unmanned and only the concrete blocs on the road slow down traffic.
At Mevo Dotan a new neighborhood is under construction.
The yellow metal gates on the shortcut road to Ya’abad village and opposite Zabda are locked as usual.
7 a.m.- Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint on the seamline-zone side
A small number of people emerge from the terminal towards the work transport vehicles. The snack-bar operated by a Hermesh settler-colonist is open. People come out holding coffee cups. The person working there says that he was informed by the DCO that Palestinians are getting their permits back (??) and that workers building the new town of Harish will be permitted again to use the Barta’a crossing in the morning. There are only two windows operating inside the terminal.
On our way to our car we are approached by a man who was caught as an illegal alien and ever since is blacklisted and not permitted to enter Israel. This is extended time and again. He is now blacklisted until 2030. We hand him the card with Sylvia’s number and wish him luck.
7:30 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint
Hardly any traffic is seen at this hour. A woman (mother? Grandmother?) crosses with a little girl in holiday dress. The woman tries to have the girl make friends with us but the girl cringes. Finally she holds out the girl’s hand to each of us in greeting. A moving attempt…
We drive to the closed Aneen Checkpoint so our guest could see for herself a village separated from its own lands buy the separation barrier. There are no soldiers on site, naturally, and this is our chance to advance to the middle gate and see the third gate leading to Aneen.
We cross West Barta’a and East Barta’a. Most stores are still closed. We continue through Hareesh and Baqa al Gharbiya towards the Baqa Checkpoint.
8:30 Baqa Checkpoint
We rarely visit this checkpoint. A soldier in the watchtower wonders what we’re doing there and sends us to the inspection booth. A woman-soldier opens the door and explains that this checkpoint is operated from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. and serves about 500 people, all holders of Palestinian IDs. They are residents of East Baqa and Nazlat Issa situated across the fence, as well as Palestinians who – before the barrier was erected – built their homes adjacent to the (Israeli situated) West Baqa. About fifteen people are waiting at this hour. It’s already very hot, not a spot of shade. One of them, a resident of East Baqa whose olive trees are located on the West Baqa side, complains about the slowness of the inspectors. The filth and neglect in the car park that used to be a lively market before the wall was erected (here it’s a real wall, not a fence) – are unbelievable.
Baqa CP
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Baqa CP
The checkpoint is on the Green Line beween Baqa alGharbiya and Nazlat 'isa.
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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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Hermesh
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Hermesh
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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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