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Reihan, Shaked, Sun 28.10.07, Morning

Place: Baqa CP Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Tags: Women
Observers: Leah R, Chana H (reporting)
Oct-28-2007
| Morning

06:15 – 09:21

06:15 Rihan Checkpoint

We were told that the checkpoint opened at 05:45. The first workers are coming out. All the younger ones are delayed 20 minutes in the inspection rooms, the older come out straight away. Three women are sitting outside, waiting for their colleagues who travel together to work. The seven other women come out after 30 minutes in which they were delayed in the inspection rooms. Again the impression that the women are held for longer. From the Seam Zone to the West Bank the transit is fast. Two stations are operating in the terminal. Those coming out tell us that the terminal is full of people. The garden is growing and developing beautifully.

07:03 Shaked (Tura) Checkpoint

The checkpoint was opened but so far no one has come through: this time, for a change, there is a hitch with the key to the inspection room. On the West Bank side, 30 people and cars are waiting. At 07:10 the children begin to pass. The smaller ones do not have their bags checked. Those aged 12 and over are checked thoroughly. In parallel, people are crossing from the West Bank to the Seam Zone via the inspection room – at this stage very slowly. At 07:20 the transit is faster. Three teachers come from Tura to Um Rihan every day, and they have to be in school by 07:15, but since the checkpoint only opens at 07:00 (on the good days) and since they have to be listed, they are late every day. They are trying to act through the mukhtar of Um Rihan, but so far there is no progress. A woman teacher crosses to the West Bank through the inspection room – in one minute. We leave at 07:40 and traffic is still lively in both directions.

07:50 Rihan (Bartaa) Checkpoint

The first three vehicles with goods are still in the inspection compound. Thirteen more vehicles are waiting in the parking lot, and the stacks of egg trays are divided between them. At 07:55 vehicles come out, but no new ones enter because a private car is still being checked in front of the gate: twenty wasted minutes of produce standing in the sun and heat.
Four vehicles with produce (one with meat not in line) enter early check at 08:00. One is sent back because his load is too high. The driver backs up and removes 10 boxes, but he has lost his place in the current check.
At 08:35 three more vehicles enter preliminary check and vehicles are released from the compound at 09:00 while 12 more are waiting. Vehicles without produce are checked in fours by mirror and manual inspection during 20-25 minutes, while nylon bags and other packages are taken into the compound. Transit of pedestrians from the West Bank to the Seam Zone continues for 5-20 minutes.
In talking to people, two problems arose:
1. It is clear that the civilian company has taken on itself another role of protecting security, and has decided to lessen the quota of eggs passing through the checkpoint. According to their accounting, it is not possible that "every resident of the Seam Zone will eat 12 eggs a day." Is it their role to supervise the quantities that go through the checkpoint?
2. There are residents of the West Bank who are being fined by Israel Police, but after paying the fine there is sometimes need to clarify certain things or cancel some rulings – but they have no possibility of reaching the police station in Baqa el Garbiye, or even of sending mail to Israel. That’s the problem. What’s the solution?

  • Baqa CP

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    • Baqa CP

      The checkpoint is on the Green Line beween Baqa alGharbiya and Nazlat 'isa.

  • 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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