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Reihan, Shaked, Sun 16.3.08, Morning

Place: Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Tags: Crowding Palestinian farmers Slow passage Youngsters and students
Observers: Yocheved J. and Hannah H. (reporting)
Mar-16-2008
| Morning
Translation: Devorah K.
 
Reihan CP – 06:05
The CP opened at 05:30 and many workers have already arrived in the upper parking lot. In front of the terminal there is no crowding, but from the disorder and the noise that is heard from inside the terminal it appears that there is a lot of crowding in the inspection rooms. All those who emerge from the terminal complain about the long stay in the rooms. There are three rooms into which people are sent in groups of eight; they pass from room to room, and in the third all the personal effects are inspected. The long stay causes a delay of at least an hour before they can get to work. There is also a fourth room into which 'specially selected' people are sent for a bodily inspection. All of them ask that the procedures be like those at the Taibe CP, where there are no rooms and rumor has it that 200 people can go through in 10 minutes, with only 5% of them detained for inspection. Here, on the other hand, all those who yet have no white hair are detained for inspection in the rooms. The older people are rarely detained . In the lower parking lot, 13 pickup trucks with goods are already  waiting for inspection; some of them have arrived yesterday.

Shaked CP – 07:10
Today the passage in both directions is quick for both cars and pedestrians. On the West Bank side , about 20 people are now waiting. The little children and the older pupils go through to school in groups without any inspection. We are told that on Thursday, workers came to the CP as early as 03:30 in the morning, but the army dispersed them, and, according to the lists that they have prepared, soldiers also came to their houses, on the pretext that the CP is a closed military area and civilians are not allowed to be in it. Those going through claim that it is important to them to get there so early in order to 'grab' a place in the queue, because there are days when the passage is very slow and they get to work late.

Old Barta'a CP – 07:40
Again we found the gate closed and there were no people here. Is agriculture over in this district? Are there problems with permits?

Reihan CP 07:50
Taxis and a bus from Barta'a go through the vehicle CP to the West Bank – some of the passengers go through the terminal ("it's faster that way") and some, especially women with children, wait in the vehicle CP (apparently because then they do not have far to walk).
The first four pickup trucks go in for inspection at 07:00 and they continue to Barta'a at 08:10. At this time there is no crowding and the passage of people and cars in both directions is managed in reasonable time.

  • 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
      View the full album
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