Reihan, Shaked, Tue 21.12.10, Morning
Bartaa-Rihan checkpoint
Many workers are going through the passage on their way to work. Following the rate of passage shows it lasts a few minutes. In the parking lot we find some sleepy drivers, who inform us that the seamstresses have passed at 05.30, when the checkpoint was opened. Two pickup trucks loaded with fruit and vegetables are waiting to be called for inspection.
A taxi arrives from the bridge, unloading workers and laborers on their way to the seam zone and East Bartaa . Around 7 o'clock an Israeli bus from the west bank arrives and pupils from the settlements are transferred to another bus. At the checkpoint they pass from their shielded vehicle to a public bus which will take them to their schools in Israel. Here they receive every morning a lesson in civic awareness, and they can directly observe the humiliation of Palestinians, who are delayed for checking of their papers and vehicles, while Israeli cars are speeding through a route reserved for Israelis only. Are these youngsters aware of the site they are in, or the area in which they live? What do they know about their neighbours which have to wait while they are passing on? What are they being told at school about their beautiful country?
7.00 Tura-Shaked checkpoint.
Palestinians emerge from the checking booth holding their belts in their hands. One of them tells us about a protracted, tiresome check and nagging questions, another says the passage was swift.
Palestinian pupils arrive, and pass in line in front of a soldier who examines their schoolbags. The adults, male and female, including female students, pass the check. The whole proceedings are performed in most orderly fashion. One of them says "only pass and be done with it". Another says:"let them do what they want, so long as they don't bother us". They wait for the teacher who is still being checked, and then will travel to their schools in thr area.
7.30 We left on our way to Jalame
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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