Northern checkpoints: Winter raises a blush in the cheeks of the occupation
14:50 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
There was very little traffic. A Palestinian transit vehicle backed up to the checkpoint and dropped workers off who walked through to the West Bank. The driver saved himself the inconvenient U-turn on the way back. Two Palestinian cars cross to the West bank, and that was all.
15:20 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint
We drove past Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint and continued past the village of Emricha to Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint. On the way we saw brown fertile fields that had been seeded and plowed. Cars were crossing in both directions without delay.
The town of Yaabed has close to 20,000 residents. It has been populated since the Iron Age and has the remains of a Byzantine church. There are tax records during the time of the Ottoman Empire for the year 1596 and during the British Mandate there were 1733 residents, all of whom were Muslims. By 1945 there were 3488 residents.
In the settlement of Mevo Dotan located on the opposite hillside on the southern side of Route 585 there are about 500 residents. The settlement was established in 1977 but for some reason it was not vacated during the disengagement in 2005 when 4 settlement were vacated in northern Samaria. It is only for this reason the inner checkpoint of Mevo Dotan still exists on the road to Yaabed, Jenin, and other villages in the area.
Everything was as usual on the way back to Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint. The gate on the short road leading from the village of Emricha to Yaabed was locked as well as the gates on both sides of the bridge near the village of Zibda. There were no cars today parked near the gates to the bridge. The private parking lots on the sides of Route 596 as well as the large parking lot on the Palestinian side of Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint were full.
15:40 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side
We were saddened to see a young woman and her young toddler daughter sitting on the ground begging at the opening of the covered fenced – in walkway (the sleeve) that leads from the entrance to the opening of the terminal. Some of the workers coming through as well as we, gave her money.
We walked down to the turnstile with many workers. Some bought boxes of cakes from the kiosk operated by the settler from Hermesh, another settlement on Route 585 that was not vacated during the disengagement. Many people greeted us on our way back to our car. There was a straw mat on the floor of the shed where people wait and two prayer rugs were spread on top. A young man was praying on one of them.
16:10 – Route 611
We drove in the direction of Harish. There were a lot of cars parked beneath the village of Qeiqis, but there were no people crossing through the hold in the fence.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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).
-
Tura-Shaked
See all reports for this place-
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
-
Ya'bed-Dotan
See all reports for this place-
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)
-