Back to reports search page

Reihan, Shaked, Sat 8.3.08, Morning

Observers: Sarit A., Rachel C. (reporting)
Mar-08-2008
| Morning
(young) guest: Mayan B.

Shift marked by meticulous closure


07:00 Reihan Checkpoint
In the upper parking lot, quiet and empty. The only noise – dogs barking.
The yellow gate in the middle of the checkpoint is closed. The guards are getting ready for work. One of them, looking important, tells us that if we walk to the gate – they will open it. We went through it as it opened for an Israeli vehicle coming from the direction of the West Bank. We passed.
In the lower parking lot, 20 people from the West Bank are standing, not allowed to pass: closure!!! Only holders of Seam Zone resident IDs are allowed to enter the Zone. The carpet factory workers from Shahak Industrial Area relate that they work around the clock, including Yom Kippur and all the past closures. But today – no! Today, whoever enters the terminal is sent back. A resident of Yaabed (West Bank), owner of a supermarket in Bartaa (Seam Zone) rues the losses of the weekend.

While we are still phoning the DCO, taxis collect the refused workers and return to the West Bank. One of the people waiting wants to visit a very ill sister in Bartaa. He has an agricultural permit, but he too is not allowed to cross. S., the soldier at the DCO, contends that he is new, doesn’t know the rules or the sector, but nevertheless promises that he will clarify and act. And, indeed, after a few more pleading calls, a checkpoint worker arrives with someone who speaks Arabic, to explain that the factory owner should have arranged special permits for this closure. He collects IDs from people, and after 15 minutes they are returned by another woman, who explains that today only residents of Bartaa, teachers and "humanitarian" (whatever that is?) can cross. Workers are denied! Let the boss worry about the future…

We gave the guest a tour of the place. In the terminal the Military Police position was manned. On the facing wall a picture hangs. From the distance, it was difficult to discern – Monet? Pissaro? Perhaps in future there will be an art gallery for the waiting Palestinians…
The upper parking lot is empty both of travellers and taxis. No cars in line waiting to enter the West Bank.

08:25 we arrive at Shaked Checkpoint
The gate is wide open. A student passes. A farmer, used to crossing with his tractor, is not allowed through today. His son, who lives in Um Reihan, works during the week at Shahak and on Saturdays comes to help his father. He waits by us and asks that we clarify what's going on. Again S. from the DCO. He doesn’t understand where we are standing, and from where and to where the tractor wants to cross. "From our side? From their side?" He asks for the ID number of the father and finally comes back with the answer – not possible: everything is under closure, which will be removed in the evening, and tomorrow all arrangements (or all closures) will be back as usual.
Inshallah.

09:00 – 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

    See all reports for this place
    • 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
Donate