Reihan, Shaked, Sun 28.3.10, Morning
06:15 Reihan-Barta'a CP
Most of the workers from the industrial zone of Shaked and the seamstresses in Barta'a have gone through. In the sleeves, we meet the last of the workers on their way to their taxis and rides. The CP is almost empty of taxis; one driver approached us to say hello and to share the difficulties that he has; then he returned to his taxi to sleep. The other one is praying, on his knees on a prayer rug.
The first pickup truck with agricultural goods all wrapped in nylon wobbles into the parking lot. The driver discovers that he has a flat tire, and waits for help from the other drivers. People who arrive are swallowed up into the terminal without any wait time. It seems that the procedures are all well-oiled. In the inspection area ofthe drivers, six private cars have been waiting ever since we arrived. As time goes on another two were added and since there is no place for more, the security guard closes the yellow electric gate. Cars that will arrive now will wait on the road. In the meantime, taxis with Israeli licence plates go through as is taken for granted, in the lane that is theirs exclusively. The drivers of the Palestinian vehicles spend the time chatting outside their vehicles.
06:45 Eight vehicles are still waiting to get permission to go on to inspection. One of the drivers protests loudly: "How long do we have to wait?" We ask one of the security guards why there is a delay, and he answers, "the drivers know why." They don't tell us, it's a secret. While we are talking, the security guard gets a message to allow the the drivers to go up to the upper inspection area.
We go up to the sleeve that goes down into the terminal in order to meet those coming out. According to these people, the passage is quick, taking about a quarter of an hour.
07:15 Four taxis out of the eight that went out for inspection are released to go on their way. The others, loaded with goods, go up to the upper inspection area.
07:30 Shaked-Tura CP
The last of the pupils go up to the road to the CP. They have study booklets rolled up in their hands. They are reviewing the material. A taxi driver drives the little children. Some of them get out of the vehicle and cross the CP on foot. Others stay inside and will go through in the car. The passage in the inspection pavilion is relatively quick. The soldier says that the computer fell and with manual inspection the passage is quick. They say that since the CP opened at seven, about 50 people went through, not including the students who go through every day at this time. In the meantime, the traffic is quite thin in both directions.
At about eight, after all the pupilshave gone through, we, too, 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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