Reihan, Shaked, Wed 16.12.09, Morning
Translation: Bracha B.A.
Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
We arrived at 09:15 and the place looked deserted. A cold, dry wind chills us to the bones. A few minutes later a resident of the nearby village of Dar El Malich in the seamline zone arrives. HE asked to bring 60 chickens from Tura in the West Bank that belong to him. He has a second wife in Tura. The soldiers refused and did not say why, and Nava called the Liaison and Coordination Administration to see why. She was told that the man had to present a written request to the army through the village Mukhtar. Even if he is permitted to bring them across he will have to do so at Reihan Checkpoint. Maybe by that time he will have a few more chickens.
Some of the people crossing the checkpoint from the territories to the seamline zone reported that the passage was quick and took about ten minutes.
There was still something puzzling: At about 09:30 the soldiers at the checkpoint took a break to eat' which lasted for a quarter of an hour, until Nava approached them and gave them a look. Why couldn’t they wait until 10:00 when the checkpoint closes anyway?
10:15: Reihan Barta’a checkpoint
Here, too, it is very cold. There are a lot of cars parked in the lower Palestinian parking lot that come fro the West Bank belonging to people who come to work or to conduct business in East Barta’a. There is barely room to park there. We were told that since the elimination of the checkpoints on the way people can reach the checkpoint after a short drive in their own cars. We did not see any pedestrians. Everyone comes in their cars now and enter and exit the terminal and continue on by car.
At 10:45 three young men came to the gate. One of them had heavy bags. |They went into the terminal immediately. After that two people arrived with two small children and entered quickly.
When we arrived there were 6 vans, loaded with agricultural produce, waiting to be checked. When we left there were two additional vans waiting to be checked.
We walked down the sleeve to see what was happening in the entrance to the terminal. To our surprise we saw eight people waiting next to the vehicle checkpoint entering the seamline zone. This was new for us but the soldier at the lookout point said that sometimes people are asked to be checked there rather than in the terminal and he did not explain why. After we left the checkpoint we went to Barta’a where the matter was made clear. We saw fireworks and heard people shooting in the air in celebration and learned that a group of people had returned to the village from their pilgrimage to Mecca. This explained the superficial check at the checkpoint, since on their way back they had already been checked when they crossed the border from Jordan.
|We heard the loudspeaker at the entrance to the terminal announce that the gate to the terminal was closed at 11:30 and all those who did not manage to get in or to be checked were sent to be checked outside at the vehicle checkpoint. It was not clear why the terminal was closed at that hour and there was no one to ask. 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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