Reihan, Shaked, Sun 22.6.08, Morning

Place: Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked

Tags: Crowding Detainees

Observers: Ruti T, Chana H (reporting))

Jun-22-2008

| Morning

05:55 – 08:50

05:55 Reihan Checkpoint

Workers waiting for transport in the upper parking lot. The checkpoint opened at 05:00, but the x-ray machine is not working, again, and most of the men and all the women are being checked in side rooms. The people coming out are reporting a short stay inside the terminal.

06:10 – rate of exit from the terminal is 125 people an hour (a half what was promised). Those coming out now are reporting a longer stay inside (30 minutes) and great pressure in the terminal.

We hear the shouting. Only one window is working, and even there the woman working has little to do. One man comes out with a young child "by virtue of whom he was not delayed for long." There is also crowding at the entrance to the terminal. Two workers in a Haifa restaurant arrive with a load of pitas and empty containers. They pass immediately into the West Bank, using terminal wagons.

06:20 – light traffic in both directions at the vehicle checkpoint. Three private cars are being checked at the entry to the Seam Zone.

06:25 – some 40 people standing in the (lower) Palestinian parking lot, next to the closed main gate – some already there 30 minutes. A big group are now taken in, but delayed at the entrance to the terminal itself, where 20 more people are already waiting. Nine pick up trucks loaded with goods are waiting for inspection. An Israeli semitrailer travelling from the West Bank to Israel is directed to a side lane and checked with a mirror and dog.

06:45 – a taxi arrives from Bartaa with passengers, and is checked at the vehicle checkpoint while the passengers wait in the garden. There are still 15 people waiting by the main entrance gate.

06:55 Shaked Checkpoint

The checkpoint gates are already open. Four men and a donkey are waiting art the turnstile, and 15 men are by the gate on the West Bank side. Meanwhile, only four cars pass from the West Bank to the Seam Zone – checking time for each, two minutes. Seems to us that there is a problem with the inspection room.

At 07:08, the first worker crosses into the Seam Zone but then again there is a long break. Meanwhile 30 people are trying to cross. Transit to the seam Zone is only renewed at 07:16 and, slowly, the rate materialises at 1-2 minutes. At 07:10 two taxis arrive with students and others from the Seam Zone to Jenin, and another with teachers. The taxis are taken in immediately, one after the other. The students pass without inspection in the side rooms, but the other people are directed in. The first taxi, with passengers, leaves at 07:16, and the second at 07:20. At 07:25, when we leave, 15 people are still waiting to pass from the West Bank to the Seam Zone.

07:35 Reihan Checkpoint

At the vehicle checkpoint in the direction of the West Bank, a taxi is being checked, with the passengers waiting alongside. Three cars are being checked in the dirction of the Seam Zone. The bus from Bartaa to Jenin arrives and is checked with its passengers at the vehicle checkpoint. In the closed compound, four pick up trucks are being checked, having entered at 07:00. They exit for Bartaa at 07:50, and four more plus a Transit are taken into the compound. Six pick ups with produce are waiting in the parking lot.

07:50 – there is nobody by the main gate at the lower end of the checkpoint, but 20 are waiting at the entrance to the terminal. The rate of exit to the Seam Zone is not constant, a burst of 15 people, then no one. The main gate closes, and only people from the Seam Zone to the West Bank are passing through. Again eight people exit to the Seam Zone, followed by another break. Again people collect at the closed gate. A military commandcar circulates in the Palestinian parking lot. Despite everything, the operations supervisor is only bothered that we cross the checkpoint so often.

At 08:20 we go down the sleeve to check what is happening at the checkpoint and why there are such delays. Loud shouts in the terminal. One of the workers explains to us that not only is the famous machine not working, but other equipment has broken down, and they are opening an alternative lane, but "it’s taking time." Sharon tells me that the heat affects the electronics equipment, and is the cause of the frequent breakdowns. We hope they will put some air conditioners into the terminal this summer. Regular transit renews at 08:30, and we identify among the people exiting some who have been there an hour, while others report two hours. Today no one comes out smiling. According to their complaints, if Sharon was physically present, transit would have been faster. There were no more breaks until we left.

08:50 – no people at the main gate, but there are still people at the entrance to the terminal. A lot of people, men, women and children, are now crossing from the Seam Zone to the West Bank.

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)
  Ruti Tuval
  
  Mar-21-2022
  
  Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
  
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