Northern checkpoints: The crossing is through the checkpoints once again
06:00 – 07:30
6:00 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
There’s no doubt that the short film that MW sent to Ohad Hemo from Channel 12, showing the crowding and pushing that humiliates those going through the checkpoint in the morning, affected the administration of the checkpoint. In the shed, also used for prayer, there are a lot of people sitting. They tell us that the checkpoint opening hour has been changed from 05:00 to 04:00 and the crossing is fast, about 10 minutes. Some of these people had indeed arrived at 03:00, but prefer to sit now and wait, after going through. The point is not to be late for transportation and lose a day of work.
We go down the pedestrian path (the “sleeve”) in the direction of the terminal and opposite us an endless stream of workers fasten the belts they took off during inspection. They leave the terminal quickly. Those who are not fasting sit in the kiosk, behind the curtain. Everyone emphasizes the benefits of the enormous change that began today after the early opening “mumtaz,” (excellent).
Laborers who work in Shahak (the industrial area in the Seamline Zone) during the night shift, return to the West Bank.
On the roads that we travel it is possible to see guard posts along the security roads – army tents and soldiers who guard the existing breaches in the fence. At Barta’a Junction, on Route 611, there are workers waiting for transportation, and we don’t have any idea how they got there.
At the entrance to the settlement of Reihan, there is a large, closed hangar, a large fire fighting facility and next to that, preparations for an additional large public building–apparently in preparation for employment sources for the residents of the settlements.
6:45 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint
The gate for pedestrians is still locked. A car with two passengers waits for the checkpoint to open. Those sitting there tell us that every day they wait at 06:30 (the official opening time) but the soldiers arrive only around 07:00. Residents of the West Bank who hurry to work had certainly already left from the distant Barta’a Checkpoint.
At 07:00, the soldiers and two transits that carry workers between the checkpoint and places of work in the Seam Zone arrive. At 07:10 about 30 workers from the West Bank hurriedly leave for work in the Seam Zone. It’s been a long time since the breaches in the fence replaced the checkpoint that we have seen so many workers actually crossing at this checkpoint.
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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