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Reihan, Shaked, Sat 1.12.07, Morning

Observers: Shula N., Noa L. (reporting)
Dec-01-2007
| Morning
Shaked-Tura CP 0730 – 0815
When we arrive we meet about 20 people who are waiting to go through from the seamline zone to the West Bank. On the other side of the CP, on the side of the West Bank, a group is waiting to go to the seamline zone (we cannot see how many). The people are angry and so are the soldiers. There's a lot of shouting. It seems to us as if there is a delay and there is no movement whatsoever, even though there are more soldiers than usual at the CP, and there is also a military vehicle. This is unusual for Saturday morning. We contact the DCO. The queue begins to move and in the course of half an hour, everybody has gone through.

Then, on their own initiative, two soldiers approach us and explain the situation at the CP from their point of view (quoting from memory): "This morning, we actually opened earlier than usual, but a few taxis full of passengers arrived all at once. There are only a few soldiers and only one inspection point; the rest of the soldiers here came with a patrol vehicle for a recess. In the inspection pavilion (aquarium) we inspect bags and there is an x-ray. People take off the belts because they interfere with the x-ray, but they do not get undressed. In this CP the modes of inspection are very inefficient and that is why it is more important to be very cautious and to inspect each person, one by one. In the past, the soldiers were more courteous towards the people but that led to arguments and shouting and that is why today they are less prepared to receive them courteously. We have to understand that the soldiers also have a hard time standing outside for many hours, with full bullet-proof vest. The soldiers were hurt because we called the DCO, which then called them. They are doing their best under the given conditions. People went through as fast as possible, and when new people did not arrive, the CP emptied out."
Reihan- Barta'a CP 0830 – 0930
Today there is lively traffic at this CP. In the beginning only a few go through to the West Bank and afterwards more and more, including a class of happy children from Barta'a going on a trip. In this direction, the passage is quick and it only took the class of children half an hour.
People are steadily leaving the terminal for the seamline zone. They tell us that inside many are waiting, and that it takes between an hour and an hour and a half, and that is the way it is every day now.
"What kind of a life is this, what kind of a life? And you, what do you do? You write and write …" They complain about the attitude toward them, especially toward the sick old people.
Cars that go through to the West Bank are inspected very meticulously for a long time. The cars coming from the West Bank are inspected as usual in groups of four under the big tent and the shed. Every round of this kind takes 20 to 30 minutes.
  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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