Reihan, Shaked, Tue 5.1.10, Morning
6:00 Rihan-Barta'a
The upper car park area is busy. Two huge tow trucks, loaded with cars, in service of the police, maneuver in the area, escorted by two Jeeps. The police officers do not volunteer to offer information. Our acquaintance, B., guesses that it has to do with stolen Israeli vehicles. One truck has a Palestinian license plate and the other has no license plate at all.
B. brings up a new complaint: as far as we know, between Arka, where he lives, and the Shachak industrial park, where he works, some gates are for the use of soldiers. If those gates would open for the convenience of the local residents, it would be a significant relief in their lives. The map proves his claim as to the proximity of locations. As to the issue of the gates, in our opinion it is worth looking into. He presents his 'Tasreech', his new passage permit . At its bottom there are new numbers. They turns out to be numbers of the road that leads to the industrial park (which apparently permits the holder of the permits to move about) #596 and # 6235.
At 6:30 pedestrian traffic is sparse. A few workers return from their night shift. The lower car park area on the Palestinian side, is empty of pickup trucks and there are no cars awaiting inspection. Whoever arrive at the checkpoint, gets in without delays.
Once again we notice that there are only a few who hold entrance permits into the Seamline zone.
Soldiers are already at the checkpoint, between the gates. After two minutes one wing of the gate opens up. On the other side we can see one car and a few people. Why such few wishing to go through? "There are no passage permits, perhaps only 8, 9" says one of the workers. Weeding and trimming olive trees is done by himself. And how does he make a living? more or less from the olive oil .
At 7:20 a group of children arrive in a van. Their school bags are inspected. The driver is inspected inside the booth. Is this a new procedure for drivers when entering the West Bank? Going up the hill are pupils with open notebooks on their way to an exam.
We heard that the reserve soldiers who are now stationed at the checkpoint are courteous and smiling. "Not like the other one who used to yell get out of here".
07:30 – Shahak industrial park
We tried locating the checkpoint (the gate) at the separation wall which B. has told us about, but to no avail. On the map one can usually see a dirt road between Arka and Shahak and on the OCHA map there is a sign of a checkpoint on the fence near that road.
On this occasion we've noticed the development going on at the industrial park, a new big building is going up.
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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