Rachel H., Noa L. (Reporting), Translation: Bracha B.A
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Northern Checkpoints: It’s not healthy to be sick on Saturday.
Tura – Shaked Checkpoint, 06:50 – 07:20
When we arrived the checkpoint was already open and operational, and people and vehicles were moving from one side to the other without delay. We were amazed at the efficiency until one of the people crossing explained to us that that on Saturdays the checkpoint opens at 06:30. On the Saturday two weeks ago the checkpoint still opened at 07:00. We will come earlier next time and check.
One of the people crossing told us he was banned from entering Israel by the Civil Authority. Is this something new? We heard about this at Reihan Checkpoint. We gave him a note with Sylvia’s details.
Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint, 07:30 – 08:30
The upper parking was filled with cars and taxis waiting for passengers. Groups of people were coming up the sleeve from the terminal and it appeared that crossing had begun in earnest. Four windows were open in the terminal and there was a long line in front of them. People were emerging from the terminal in waves with pauses in between. It appeared that a lot of people were being detained inside. Recently we have been unable to time how long it takes individual people to come out, and from talking with people we learned that it took up to 40 minutes to get through.
A man, a woman, and a 12-year-old boy were standing next to the turnstile leading to the West Bank,555 on the West Bank side. The man brought the woman and boy to the checkpoint and a car would take them for treatment at Mukassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. The son has cardiac problems and is receiving routine treatment there. They always go this way through Israel, but usually travel on weekdays. There is usually no problem but today, Saturday, they were not allowed to cross. We telephoned headquarters and after clarifying things we were told they could not cross here, only at Jalameh. The man claimed that he knows they will not be allowed to cross there. He asked to speak to someone at the checkpoint who is in charge and who speaks Arabic. We went to look for someone who could help. No one in the building answered us, and the guards in the booth near the road were rude and did not help us get hold of the person responsible. The man attempted to get help from the head of the Barta’a regional council but without success. After a long time, they returned to the West Bank and to Jerusalem. It was extremely frustrating.
Several other people who were banned from entering Israel asked for help and we gave them details to contact Sylvia’s team.
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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