Reihan, Shaked, Sat 1.9.12, Morning
Translation Naomi Gal
07:20Rihan
One single window is active at the Terminal. Men come out with their belts in hand and say it went fast ("10 minutes"). Others report a longer wait. Many are passing toward the West Bank. Families, students, are standing at the entrance to the terminal waiting for the carousel with their belongings to operate so that they can approach the window. Invisible hand stops and releases the carousels. At one of these stops there were 12 people waiting. Among them was a girl (about 14), who was not allowed to pass. She cried. A woman was waiting with her. The security guard at the desk made a phone call and probably consulted someone on the other end before motioning her finger for "No". Ten minutes later the girl left the checkpoint with an older man.
A law student who was in a rush to get to Jenin complained about the waste of time. We had no choice but agree with him.
A car is being checked on the road, all five doors open, but no one checks it. A boarder guard carrying a drawn gun is joking with one of the drivers.
08:25 we left.
08:40 ShakedCheckpoint
Judging by the new arches erected above the pedestrians’ lane, it seems as if they are about to cover it with a sort of awning.
Military vehicle is blocking the right lane. The drivers turn into the left lane.
During the soldiers’ breakfast activity ceases and those waiting are detained: a driver of a small truck, a tractor laden with tobacco sprigs.
A sergeant (Artillery) and MP woman soldier approach us. They break out in a lecture, spoken by many soldiers, reprimanding us on our stand against the checkpoints. Again we heard "hard facts" about the necessity of the checkpoints, facts confounding tomorrow and yesterday.
The military vehicle drove out of the gate and stopped by us. Someone asked, "Is everything okay?” we said something about the long wait. As a response we were rebuked: soldiers, too, have to eat.
09:10 we left.
The soldiers were in the grocery’s yard beside the road leading to the checkpoint.
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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