Reihan, Shaked, Sun 29.1.12, Afternoon
Translation: Bracha B.A.
15:10-17:10
15:10 – Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
There is light but continuous traffic. Vehicles going in both directions are being meticulously checked: all doors, the hood, and the boot are all being opened.
There is a short line of a few people in the inspection booth. We were told that school vacation would end in a day or two.
We had an interesting conversation with two soldiers who approached us. We explained our job in "MachsomWatch." We stressed that the checkpoint is located within occupied territory and not on the Green Line. One of the soldiers told us that a year ago a boy was caught carrying a bag of explosives. He had been sent by people who wanted to be caught and sent to jail. We hear versions of this story passed down from one group of soldiers to another.
We left at 15:50.
We give a ride to Um-A-Reihan to two people on our way to the Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint.
16:00 – Mevo Dotan CHeckpoint
The checkpoint is operating. Cars going in both directions stop and continue on without being checked.
Soldiers tell us to move from the parking place because "we are blocking traffic." A driver of a patrol jeep warns us that people are throwing stones at Yaabed. We asked them if they could possibly be frustrated because the charcoal factories have been closed and they have no way of earning a living, and they have no answer.
16:20 –Reihan Barta'a Checkpoint
The parking lot is full. Seven loaded trucks are lined up to be checked in the morning. We see women with children and packages emerging and decide to see how long it takes them to get through. It is 16:25.
We drove up to the upper parking lot and went down the sleeve. Many people are coming back from work. People are going through quickly until suddenly the turnstile stops and only 4-5 people are allowed through at once.
One man told us that there were problems in the morning. He arrived at 05:00 and only finished being checked at 05:30.
At 16:55 the women we had been keeping a lookout for finally came through. One of them was very angry. The others were apparently used to things and less agitated than we were. They had all their packages searched and underwent a body search as well.
We left at 17:10.
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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