Northern checkpoints: The routine of occupation
14:30 Tura-Shaked checkpoint
There is no traffic at this time. An elegant man in a suit and tie gets out of his car on the Palestinian side. The passage, through the checkpoint booth and the vehicle checkpoint, lasts about 10 minutes.
14:50 Yabed-Dotan checkpoint
We pass the Barta’a checkpoint and the crowded parking lots. On the way we notice cameras installed on the pillboxes and on the side of the road, at least some of them look new to us. High piles of soil along the road between the village of Amriha and the checkpoint are also noticeable. We do not know if they were intended for agricultural or other purposes. The checkpoint is unmanned and traffic is free in both directions.
15:10 Hermesh checkpoint
The checkpoint, as usual, is wide open and unmanned. Only cameras overlook the former checkpoint.
15:20 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint, Palestinian side
There is no chance of getting into the full parking lot. We parked on the side of the road, behind Palestinian cars. The parking lot at the foot of the village of Zabda extends to the side of the road. Many are already returning from work by this time. Taxi drivers barely make it by the parked cars. Unlike two weeks ago, watermelons are not sold, today it is potatoes. The peanut seller stands as usual at the entrance to the aisle shed. Drivers take advantage of the shade in the shed while waiting for passengers. A beggar is also sitting in the doorway of the shed. The buffet sells delicious crushed ice tamarind drinks for 2 NIS.
There is a lot of traffic, relatively, to the seam zone and the terminal is open for passage.
15:40 Barta’a-Rihan checkpoint, the Seam Zone area
A beggar with a toddler girl stands at the opening of the sleeve (a covered, fenced path that leads to the checkpoint). sad. Many return from their work in Israel and in the seam zone. Quite a few people buy boxes of rugelach for the weekend at the buffet of the settler from Hermesh..
16:00 On our way to the car and home we meet a group of Palestinian waiters, who are waiting for a ride to a restaurant in Kafr Qara.
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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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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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