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Reihan, Shaked, Sat 19.7.08, Morning

Observers: Shula N., Noah L .(reporting)
Jul-19-2008
| Morning

07:30 – 08:30 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint

When we arrive, traffic is flowing in both directions. A man tells us that the soldiers are new to the area, only three days there, and one of them in particular is behaving very crudely."Never mind, in another week they will leave." We pass the complaint on to the company commander who comes to visit the sector, and ask him about the situation.
Shortly afterwards a vehicle is detained at the checkpoint for a long time, preventing passage of other cars and occasionally also pedestrians. The line gets longer in both directions. Even the donkey (a child riding it) displays impatience and kicks endlessly.
We call the DCO: "We’ll check." We call again after a few minutes: "There’s a problem and it’s being dealt with." The company commander returns, and we approach him again: according to the people well versed in checkpoints, it is only here that one detainee can hold up all the traffic.
At other checkpoints, the vehicle stands aside while the matter is clarified, and meanwhile all the others keep going. We phoned the DCO and got the answer: "You do not know everything. There’s are problems and they are being dealt with." Meanwhile a few people and an occasional car do pass.

It’s not clear whether the problem is with the checking equipment, with inexperienced soldiers or something else that we cannot clarify.
We leave. 08:40 – 09:30 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint
Flowing traffic in both directions – pedestrian and vehicular. No one waiting at the entrance to the terminal, on either side, but people coming out say it is very crowded inside. Only one window is open to check people entering and leaving. We look for the (civilian company) supervisor on the spot. The workers say they’ll phone him, he’s coming and anyway what do we want (that they should open windows), but "Meir" doesn’t appear by the time we are to leave. Cars in line to the Seam Zone are waiting at least half an hour for a check which also takes (in a place out of our sight) at least half an hour more.

  • 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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