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Reihan, Shaked, Tue 19.2.08, Morning

Place: Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint Tura-Shaked
Observers: Tami S, Hassida S (reporting)
Feb-19-2008
| Morning

07:35 Shaked-Tura Checkpoint

Very cold, needles of rain penetrating the bones.
A taxi with students being checked thoroughly. Some of the passengers go through without a check, others sent through the inspection room. A number of schoolchildren pass without any check. Two private cars being checked meticulously, seems that only the drivers go through the room.
Rain aggressively drives us away.

07:50 Reihan-Bartaa Checkpoint

A lot of minibus taxis waiting for passengers in the upper parking lot. Few have passed so far, apparently because of the weather. According to them, a large proportion are being checked in the rooms. Toilet check: of the three cubicles, two are locked. The third is dirty. Water flowing in the flush tank and from the tap, but the soap dish is empty and there is no paper. Who is responsible for maintenance? The security company? And in the same context: the chemical lavatories that were, and stank, in the lower parking lot have been taken away, with a promise that they would be replaced, but a long time has passed and there are no toilets.
Descent in the sleeve to the terminal did not produce any other data, apart from an emotional meeting between Tami and a youngster from Harduf, named Harry. He is a chiropractor with a permit to cross into the West Bank, and he deals with patients in Yaabed as a volunteer. He leaves his car at the upper lot, passes through the terminal and continues by taxi to Yabed. May there be many like him…
Till we descended to the lower parking lot the flow of transients picked up. Passage in both directions seems to flow without problems.
Below, we met our driver acquaintances. M. told us that recently Salem DCO has started to give magnetic cards to residents of the villages in the area who were born in Bartaa but live in the West Bank. The suggestion was that this was being done to counter the production of forged passes, which are worthless without the magnetic card. Conversely, it saves residents with family in the Seam Zone from the need for agricultural or other permits. We were told that the cards are distributed to anyone who comes to the DCO till the 15th of this month or the 15th of March. Not clear which.


Vehicle checkpoint: four cars in parallel in the tent. We could not see if the drivers were present or pushed away.

Two pickups loaded with sheep and eggs, and a Transit with vegetables, waiting to be inspected. A load of eggs waiting under the roof for transfer. Out of curiousity I went to see if the eggs were stamped "Hermon" after reading this morning Gideon Levi’s criticism of Oded Ben Ami’s tv report that the eggs suspected for salmonella are being brought to Israel for sale. There was no rubber stamp on the eggs at Reihan, and they are apparently only for consumption in the Seam Zone.
Tami as usual checks with regard cancellation of the quarantine. The rain falls, the checkpoint stands in its place, survival continues here, but the rating is low… Who wants to see or know?

  • 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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