Reihan, Shaked, Sun 5.6.11, Afternoon
Translated by Ilil Naveh-Benjamin
Naksa day? Not in “our checkpoints.” We’re only trying to make a living.
14:45 Shaked/Tura
The checkpoint is empty of passers-by. Finally, a young man arrives from the West Bank and announces, “Today’s OK. These are good soldiers.” Three cars pass by 15:05. Armoured military vehicles come and go. Two female military police soldiers come and go.
A car labeled “DOCTOR” arrives. The military police soldiers (women) are loudly told to return since “the commander hasn’t coordinated the handover.” Finally, the handover is arranged by phone.
At 15:15 a young man arrives from the seam zone carrying heavy bags, mostly clothes. We wonder how long it’ll take him to pass through the checkpoint. He grudgingly guesses half an hour. He goes through in three minutes – and we leave.
15:40 Reihan/Barta’a
We go down into the full-to-bursting parking lot on the Palestinian side, and park on the road. Travelers are few in number at this hour. The drivers sound jolly even as they complain about sparse employment: “Maybe one load a day. Barely 20 shekels.” They say they’d like a cold water fountain to be put here, like the one at the entrance to the seam zone terminal. Some enjoying a siesta on cots laid out in a shed. We listen to their complaints about the General Security Servicesprohibited. For example, one man tells us that his 23 year-old son has studied for four years to become a teacher, but can’t find a teaching position in the West Bank and is prohibited from crossing into the seam zone, even though his 19 year-old brother does have the authorization. We refer the father to Mahadi, the authorization officer in the District Coordination Office (DCO).
We follow a young man who enters the terminal at 16:00, and meet him on the northern side later on. “Why did it take you 17 minutes to get out?” We laugh. He chuckles: “They don’t have power, what can I do.”
The checkpoint parking lot has been paved over with cement. But the roof above the examination area is still under construction, a metal skeleton that offers no protection from the elements.
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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