Northern checkpoints: There is no connection between the beauty of nature and the occupation
6:45 Barta’a -Reihan Checkpoint
Among the many men coming out of the terminal and up the ‘sleeve’ we see two lone women. Serious-faced. We slow down, wave at them and they smile and wave back.
The car-parks are already filled as well as the roadsides beyond the no-parking area.
6:55 Ya’abad-Dotan Checkpoint
Everything is quiet here, unlike what was to be expected after the Jenin events. Traffic is thin and flowing. Apparently, the checkpoint is unmanned, and we climb onto the armored concrete block on the left side of the road in order to get a new camera angle.
On our way back, we noticed that the military gate closing on Palestinian grounds, the keys to which are in the hands of the Ma’oz Tzvi colonists, is wide open. We decided to go up the hill. The entrance gate to the colony was open as well. A few pre-fab houses are seen in the area, some of them already getting their stone cover. Cute children are waiting for their transport at a station. We asked a young woman about the site of the view we got to know in our previous visit. “Nice, you are up and travelling early in the morning”, she was impressed us. two elderly ladies.
We looked upon the Dotan Valley and at Ya’abad village opposite us, with its plenty of fresh flowers, the beauty of which does not let us forget that two of the outpost colonists chased Anwar away from his own olive grove after he had nearly finished harvesting his olives, and would not let him take the olive sacks with him. One of them even punched Nir in the face a week later when he helped Anwar finish his harvesting.
8:00 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint
A woman awaits her sister at the end of the ‘sleeve’ – fenced track leading to and from the checkpoint – who has been detained at the checkpoint with her car. The tobacco field nearby is plowed and waiting for the planters.
We entered Dahr Al-Malih to see whether any changes were made in the space between the village and Shaked colony. Someone who drives behind us wishes to speak with us. He is a young man, disabled after a work-related accident inside Israel. He live with his family at the home of his sister and her husband, and cannot feed his family. The Israeli authorities do not enable him to transport wares from the West Bank into the Seam Zone. He says Charly (director of Reihan Checkpoint) wishes to help, but the DCO refuses. He is begging for work. We suggested he get in touch with Kav La-Oved (hoping they can help) and tomorrow we’ll call him to hear if he received at least some good advice.
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)
Ruti TuvalMar-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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Zabda
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Zabda Located in the north of the West Bank,
Shuli BarMay-23-2023The huge parking lots in front of Zabda and the Barta`a checkpoint
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