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Reihan, Shaked, Tue 13.1.09, Morning

Place: Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Tags: Dogs, dog trainer
Observers: Tamar W., Neta J. (reporting)
Jan-13-2009
| Morning

Translation: Devorah K.


Today is the eighteenth day of the Gaza War.


06:15 Reihan-Barta'a CP
Those who come early have already gone through. The last of the seamstresses arrive at the CP and go through at this time. Our friend, the driver A., says that during the last two days the Mavo Dothan-Ameriha CP was opened at 05:10. On the days before that it opened at 04:20 and then the workers could get to the Reihan CP before it opened at 05:00.
One car is being inspected; the dog is barking; four pickup trucks are already waiting for inspection.
06:45 Eleven pickup trucks are waiting. The procedures for transporting eggs have changed. The criterion is no longer thirty trays per pickup truck; instead they are allowed to transport 750 trays per day in three pickup trucks, i.e. 250 in each truck.

There is very little traffic in the CP. A taxi is waiting for the workers from the night shift in Shahak to drive them to their homes in Arabeh in the region of Jenin.


07:00 Shaked-Tura CP
The gate on the side of the seamline zone is open, but two additional gates are still locked.
07:10 they open the gates. The first pupil arrives; after him the children from the isolated house arrive walking between the fences.

We are told that tomorrow the vacation between semesters begins in the schools, and it will last for twelve days.
07:20 The first car goes through from the West Bank to the seamline zone. About twenty people crowd in front of the turnstile at the entrance to the inspection pavilion. Tamar times how long it takes one of those waiting to go through to the seamline zone: more than a quarter of an hour. It seems that it takes less for a car to go through than for a pedestrian and indeed a farmer with a car is waiting impatiently for his friends. All of them have olive groves near Umm a-Reihan. One of the drivers points to the clear skies and says: "There is no rain, only the rain of missiles."

08:05 Back to the Reihan-Barta'a CP
Workers and merchants from East Barta'a are leaving the upper parking lot. We went down the sleeve to the opening of the terminal. Only one inspection post is open. But the tempo of passage is reasonable.
A Palestinian worker is sweeping the concrete floor of the sleeve. As is appropriate in an orderly organization, he has a tag with his name.
Workers from Jenin, who work in Barta'a, are waiting for their taxi to go through.
08:40 Drivers complain that there is no work. M. tells us that because of the war people with work permits in Israel do not go out to work. They are afraid to stay in Israel. On the dusty window at the back of one of the cars, the picture of the war has been traced by a finger: a plane and a helicopter releasing bombs.
09:00 To our surprise, only four pickup trucks are waiting at this time. We leave the CP.

  • 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
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
      View the full album
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