Reihan, Shaked, Sun 8.6.08, Morning - machsomwatch
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Reihan, Shaked, Sun 8.6.08, Morning

Observers: Chana H, Yocheved G
Jun-08-2008
| Morning

 Eve of Shavuot

06:00 Reihan Checkpoint

A number of workers at the entrance to the checkpoint. They say there is closure, have to be back early. Apparently because of this, fewer men are crossing. "The Jews are celebrating and the Palestinians are suffering." Who will pay the day’s wage?
06:15 – at the entrance to the terminal, from the Palestinian parking lot, workers at Shahak Industrial Zone are being forbidden transit because of the closure. We spoke to the DCO and they told us to talk to Sharon, who is responsible for the checkpoint. Sharon says there has to be an order from the army. Is Shahak "Israeli" or "Seam Zone"? Only at 07:30 we talked to Menashe Brigade and asked why passage to Shahak isn’t allowed. Answer: it is a policy decision…
Our response: for us a festival, for them damage? They said they would check… We did not receive an answer. This matter needs to be clarified once and for all.

07:00 Shaked Checkpoint

The checkpoint opened at this hour, with some 20 men waiting. A flock of sheep passes, but a taxi with a mother and sick child is detained. The child has to get to Rambam Hospital (Yuval has come to get him), but according to the documents he is supposed to cross at the distant Reihan Checkpoint. The mother preferred Shaked because it is faster and not crowded – in order to keep the child (who is wearing a mask) from coming in contact with many people. After negotiation with Sharon, it is agreed that he can pass at Shaked, but then it becomes clear that the mother’s ID card is at Rambam. Again phone calls and delays till it becomes clear that the father can go with him and bring the ID card (an hour and a half’s delay for a child with oncological problems needing chemotherapy!).
Can we act to get an arrangement where a sick person with an invitation to hospital can cross at any checkpoint?
A Palestinian was arrested next to us, and said that his Israeli employer was greedy. He paid wages (100 shekels) every few days, and then began to pay with cheques that bounced. Since four workers were involved, they approached an Israeli lawyer who wanted a lot of money. We directed him to the MW lawyers for advice, and gave telephone numbers of ACRI (Association for Civil Rights). Among the four are "illegals" which makes it difficult for them in the face of the employer’s threats.

08:30 Reihan Checkpoint

Five pick up trucks loaded with produce are waiting. The first two entered the inspection compound at 07:30, but haven’t yet come out!
Eight cars are waiting in line – and a pick up carrying sheep. The pace is slow, and today, of course, entry for pick ups ends at 12:30.
We left at 08:45 (the first pick ups weren’t yet out). [LW]

  • 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
      Ruti Tuval
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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