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Reihan, Shaked, Sat 6.10.07, Morning

Observers: Shula N., Noa L. (reporting)
Oct-06-2007
| Morning
Shaked CP  07:30 – 08:00
There is traffic in both directions: pedestrians, vehicles, and donkeys. The passage is relatively quick and continuous for cars and for pedestrians. The latter enter the inspection hut.

Reihan CP   08:10- 09:30
There is relatively heavy traffic of both vehicles and pedestrians. Cars wait for 20 minutes before they are called for inspection in groups of 4, and after that there are another 20 minutes of inspection, which includes unloading objects onto carts by those who do the cleaning at the CP, inspection by dogs, inspection by the civilian inspectors, and re-loading of the objects.
The passage for pedestrians through the terminal is relatively quick, except for those chosen for 'inspection in the room', which is likely to delay them for an hour or more.
The minute we arrived, we met a member of the Barta'a Council in the 'sleeve'. He told us that a short while ago, the Inspectors broke a tv set that was being transported by the doctor who comes to Barta'a every Saturday. We approached the place where the vehicles were being inspected, but the civilians responsible for the inspection did not allow us to go up to the doctor and to talk to him. They claimed that everything was fine and nothing had been broken. Judging by the number of civilian inspectors and by the fact that the doctor was still at the CP; it seems to us that  the story was based on fact. Again there are the questions: Who is responsible here? and who is in charge of the CP? To whom can we turn with a question, or a complaint, or to ask for an explanation? As we have already written several times (as have other shifts and the 'Haaretz' reporter), turning the CPs over to civilians is highly problematic.
A person from Kafin, who has a grove in the Barta'a enclave, and also has a permit for the agricultural gate, which is closed today, asked for help. He wants to go through at Reihan in order to solve an urgent problem in his fields. At the Salem DCO, they say that the CP is their responsibility, but according to his place of residence, this man belongs to Tulkarm. At Tulkarm, they say that the the man belongs to them, but the CP is the responsibility of Salem. That's the way he was being tossed from one to the other. Finally, a courteous woman soldier at Tulkarm promised to find out if it would be possible to open the agricultural gate for him, and 'please call in another 10 minutes.' When we called, it turned out that the man had already disappeared, and we had shaken up the system for nothing.

We wrote down the personal data of an adult who had problems with attaining an agricultural permit for the olive-picking in his grove.
  • 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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