Reihan, Shaked, Tue 29.3.11, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
06:05 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint
Five trucks with food products from the West Bank wait on the road to cross into the seam zone. Two more wait in the parking lot.
We hear the loud voices of many people from inside the terminal. They’re stuck there. Nevertheless, whoever arrives is also let in, increasing the congestion. Who knows what the reason is. We called Sharon, the manager of the checkpoint, but he didn’t answer. We called one of the people who had just entered and he, still on the line, said he estimates there were 150 people within. Maybe the computers are down.
We were told that the seamstresses, who have arrive very early, were also delayed a long time and were let coming out.
06:50 We called again. This time we were told that most people had left, and only a few dozen remained within: “It’s ok now.”
(The following day I spoke to the same contact person, who said that yesterday and today things were “ok.”)
Workers on the night shift in the Shahak industrial zone, located between the settlements in the area, were returning at the same time to the West Bank. They said there’s no delay going through the checkpoint to the West Bank.
07:05 Shaked-Tura checkpoint
The usual routine. The checkpoint is open, a few dozen people waiting at the revolving gate on the West Bank side. Pupils going to the West Bank pass by soldiers with their bags opened wide. Drivers wait to be called for vehicle inspection. People leave the inspection building, putting their belts back on as they walk, hurriedly tell us, “good morning.” Soldiers stand relaxed, hands in pockets, facing indifferent local residents, one soldier above pointing his weapon, the sun shining, birds chirping and the world turns.
07:40 We left.
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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