Reihan, Shaked, Mon 9.2.09, Morning
The inspection procedures are as usual: The soldiers inspect the documents and the lists they have in hand. In the afternoon, they will note which of those who left in the morning have come back. A person from the DCO makes decisions about doubtful cases. A tractor with a sack of flour or sheep fodder is required to return it to his house. This cannot be taken through the CP. Afterwards, the soldier explains to us that he cannot know what is in the sack and that is why he does not take a chance. And apart from that, he tells us to get out (of his military area).
The Hummers parked in the CP are kept running throughout all the time they are there. The explanation is that if they are shut off, it is hard to start them again. That sounds really funny.
06:30 Those who are waiting go to the center of the CP. A woman who goes through with her son asks to go back. Both of them are tense. If they allow her to go back and her son remains by himself, will they make trouble for him on his way back? Another man, who was called to come back home by his wife who is ill, is also waiting for the right time to ask the soldiers for a favor. The most important thing is not make them angry. The tension, the doubt and the need to do what the soldiers want, are characteristic of the occupation and the oppression, even when we make the mistake of thinking that "everything is o.k." and there are no "special problems", which was our experience of things during the morning. In the morning, we heard an opinion that this CP will be closed in the near future. That is what was being said at the CP gate. Whether or not it is true — people are stressed.
08:45 We left, taking the depression home with us.
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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