Reihan, Shaked, Sun 20.7.08, Morning
06:05 – 08:40
06:05 Reihan – Barta'a
Above, in the parking lot on the seamline zone side, workers and seamstresses are waiting for their rides. They tell us that "today is good".
The documents of the taxi passengers from the seamline zone to the West Bank are inspected in the hut in the upper vehicle CP.
In the parking lot on the Palestinian side only two loaded pickup trucks are waiting. Others have already been admitted for inspection.
Those who come to the gate enter the teminal immediately. We observed the passage of a young man in an orange shirt; ten minutes passed from the time he entered the terminal until he left for the seamline zone.
06:55 Shaked-Tura CP
The soldiers are there, and at 07:00 on the dot they open the gate. About 20 people are waiting to cross to the seamlina zone. One of the soldiers takes care of the queue. He turns the herd of sheep back, and makes sure that the sheep do not go past the gate. The passage in both directions is slow. One of those going through tells us "I heard that in Barta'a things are good today." Another asks when all this will end.
In the upside–down world of the CPs, the experienced Palestinians teach the job to the new soldiers. One of them tells us "I asked the soldier to write down [the names and the ID numbers of those going through] so that there won't be problems in the afternoon." Another person says, "You know, here there are soldiers, and not a [civilian] company." It seems that a civilian security firm has some advantages.
07:50 About ten people are still waiting to go through. When we ask about this, a soldier answers that the passage to the West Bank is slow because the people's permits have 'Reihan CP' written on them. The soldiers do not know that the residents of Umm Reihan, Dahar el Malek, and Hirbet Radiyeh are allowed to go through the Shaked CP and they keep asking about each person. The passage to the seamline zone is slow because there is only one soldier in the inspection hut, doing the inspection.
Outside, on the other hand, five soldiers are standing opposite one Palestinian. A resident of Dahar el Malek, who does maintenance work in the nearby settlement Hinanit, is waiting for his two workers. In the meantime he complains that his village has still not been hooked up to electricity.
08:10 All those who were waiting to go through to the seamline zone – about 20 people and two herds of sheep – have gone through.
Five Palestinian cars are waiting to go through to the West Bank. The vehicle CP is closed for some reason unknown to us. They open for the 'Security Vehicle of Mavo Dothan' and for us. Afterwards, the Palestinians go through.
The parking lot on the Palestinian side is full of cars whose drivers, as usual, are waiting for non-existent passengers. Those who arrive at the gate enter the terminal immediately.
08:40 Eight loaded pickup trucks are waiting to be inspected. 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).
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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)
Mar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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