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Reihan, Shaked, Sat 6.9.08, Morning

Observers: Sarit A, Rahel C (reporting)
Sep-06-2008
| Morning
Translated by: L.W.

07:00 Reihan Checkpoint
The yellow bar across the main road is closed. At 07:05 it opens and cries can be heard from the direction of the entrance gate to the terminal. Three cars enter for checking.
50-60 peopel are crowded by the gate. Shouts from the hut — "Close the gate!" – fill the air. The gate cannot be closed because of the pressure. The soldier continues to shout.
The parking lot is filthy!!! Four piles of eggs under the roof.
At 07:20 there is no line at the entrance. Whoever comes – enters.

At the upper entrance to the terminal:

07:30 – we meet the first people coming out. Three exit the inspection compound (after a 20minute check), and two who are waiting are being called in. The barking of dogs fills the air. Many of the people coming out turn automatically to the cold water installation, and – oops – it is not there!

In the terminal, the centre partition is closed. Two posts are functioning. At 07:45, the last ones to enter, at 07:20, come out.

07:55 – the bus from Bartaa is being checked. Its passengers sit/stand in the playground, with others in the shade of the overhead webbing. A checkpoint functionary inspects the baggage, the driver returns it to the bus. The passengers line up (for what?). Afterwards they climb into the bus and continue on their way.

Many pedestrians go down the sleeve to the terminal – families with children, and individuals.

08:05 – four vans waiting for passengers. The place is empty. The lavatories are not clean. We identify two new ficus plantings next to the playground.

08:15 Shaked Checkpoint

Six soldiers, a Hummer. Relatively large traffic compared with other Saturdays. Cars. Pedestrians. A grandmother dressed in white, walking slowly, helped by a cane and with a child by her side. One of the soldiers is ready, his weapon aimed.

08:20 – we leave.

  • Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

    See all reports for this place
    • 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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