Reihan, Shaked, Sun 30.1.11, Afternoon
Translation: Bracha B.A.
14:50 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
1. A van from the West Bank is standing in the vehicle inspection area. After a few minutes it turns around and returns from where it came. The soldiers are not willing to explain why they did not let the driver through to the seam zone. 50 minutes later the van returns and goes through. Apparently the driver had attempted to bring several window frames without glass from Yaabed for his house in Dar el Malak, several hundred meters from the checkpoint. Yusef from the Liaison and Coordination Administration and the soldiers would not allow him to bring them across. The windows are presently in his aunt's house in Tura. He will have to pay NIS 400 to have them brought through the Reihan Barta'a checkpoint by another driver unless he gets permission from the Liaison and Coordination Administration.
2. A young woman from Dar al Malak tells us that she is not allowed to see her husband who is from Zubuva (ear Salem). The reason is not clear, since she came from the West Bank. The person who picked her up verified her story before they drove off.
3. Two young men who are lightly dressed despite the cold weather report that they had to undress in the inspection room.
4. A Rexton – an expensive land rover – covered with mud drives through the checkpoint without being checked. It has a white license plate with red numbers.
5. A woman and four lovely girls wait patiently for a half hour for someone to pick them up.
6. A young man from the West Bank tells us to get back into our car because it's cold outside.
Such is life at the checkpoints.
16:00 – Reihan-Barta'a Checkpoint
Three cars are waiting to be checked. Two Border Authority flags are fluttering on either side of the Israeli flag indicating a strong west wind. As usual at this time of day, the Palestinian parking lot is crowded and there are many workers hurrying down the sleeve to the terminal.
About 25 people, including a group of seamstresses who work in Barta'a, are waiting in front of the turnstile. Three detainees are waiting on the bench.
Three men come out of the terminal: a technician with a ladder, Ron, the manager of the terminal, and a checkpoint security guard: "We have to fix something here." Everyone goes through the second turnstile, the newer one, but it is locked. The seamstresses are let through to the front of the line. The repairman attempts to fix the connection between the lights above the second turnstile and the control booth. The line of people grows longer. Another window opens and the turnstile opens at 16:30. A woman with a crying baby in her arms comes through from the other side, barely able to make her way through the chaos. Meanwhile the turnstile which was repaired is also stuck and people are told to go through slowly to prevent it from getting stuck again. We are incensed that so many people are being made to wait outside in the bitter cold when they are in a hurry to get home. All of a sudden everyone is allowed to enter and five minutes later the entrance is empty.
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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