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Reihan, Shaked, Sat 3.11.07, Morning

Observers: Sarit A, Rachel C (reporting)
Nov-03-2007
| Morning

07:30 – 09:45

07:30 – 08:00 Shaked Checkpoint

About 20 people in the area. A few have already crossed from the West Bank and are waiting under the roof. The others – by the gate. People can be seen waiting on the Tura side as well. Transit is at a snail pace.
07:45 – all are through. Two soldiers ask whether we need anything. Certainly new… They were bothered by our car parked near the hut, and calmed down when they heard that the car was our responsibility.

08:10 – 09:45 Rihan Checkpoint

In the upper parking lot six cars waiting for passengers. The checkpoint opened at 07:30 and we meet the first people coming out.
One toilet open and not really clean. Soap container empty. No toilet paper.
We ascend the sleeve. Additions to the landscaping: four large plant pots.
Four cars at the inspection point. The dogs are working quietly.

Most people coming out of the terminal say the rooms are full, and everything is slow. A few mention a 14 year old boy not permitted to return home to Bartaa. He has his mother’s ID with which he went out. We have no details and we try to clarify. Someone comes out and identifies himself as David: he does not want to go back through the whole terminal process in order to bring the mother’s ID to the soldiers, but prefers to continue on his way and to call the mother to come and extricate her son. Since no one from the security team can be seen, we choose to operate via the army. Dana from Central Command "waves" me off. According to her, it’s not possible that the boy crossed with his mother’s ID (which is logical, because that’s the demand), and perhaps he stole it (perhaps?), and anyway – how can she locate someone responsible at Rihan while we, who are there, cannot? Sarit summons up courage and enters the terminal. The woman soldier at the "cash desk" panics and does not respond. The security man jumps down from above and promises to0 send someone. No one comes.
After five minutes, two security women and a man can be seen in the terminal, but they are not willing to answer us. We leave since none of those coming out no anything about the boy’s story, and only complained about the inspection in the rooms and an hour’s delay.
09:10 – at the end of the sleeve on our way to the lower parking lot, we see an intensive care ambulance. It’s from Hermesh. They should all be well…
In the lower lot, some thirty people in front of the yellow gate.
The drivers relate that the gate was closed for half an hour. Within quarter of an hour, the place emptied out.
Walid makes coffee. He seems sadder than usual. 500 egg trays (15,000 eggs) are lying under the roof.
The drivers tell of new soldiers at Dotan Checkpoint who let no one pass without permits that do not exist. With no choice they make their way by "non-existent" paths, and again: "Why if I want to visit my sister in Kafin, five minutes drive from Zebda, do I have to make a circle around the whole area to pass under the road?"
Before we leave, we get a request to help in obtaining a permit for a medical test in Hadassa for a child who cannot hear. We give the father all the necessary details in the hope that he will succeed (we will continue to follow up).
09:45 – we leave.
  • 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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