Reihan, Shaked, Wed 17.11.10, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
The Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid el Adha); lots of action at the Shaked-Tura checkpoint
8:30 Shaked-Tura checkpoint
People wait beyond the fence, on the checkpoint’s eastern side, to cross to the seam zone. Three cars and seven families waiting to cross to the West Bank. All are dressed festively, accompanied by many children, for holiday visits. Women were brought in groups to the inspection building to avoid creating a line at the entrance.
Of course, by 9:00, when the checkpoint closes (to reopen at 12:00), not everyone managed to cross. In particular, those who still haven’t crossed included people wishing to visit relatives in the seam zone. They’ve come with baskets and packages of holiday presents and perhaps that’s why their crossing was delayed. But this fact didn’t change the decision to close the gate at the usual time, 9 AM. I phoned the DCO to tell them not everyone managed to cross. They gave me the cellphone number of an officer, a Druze. I called him; he yelled at me that Machsom Watch women dare to bother him on his holiday (the Druze also celebrate the Feast of the Sacrifice at this time). In his opinion, the people could have come at 6 AM, when the checkpoint opened, and they would have gone through on time. I said I thought they could let them through, because they’d arrived before 9, and people don’t make holiday visits at 6 in the morning. He didn’t agree, and people were forced to wait until 12 to cross. To my sorrow, I was unable to help.
09:30 Reihan-Barta’a checkpoint
No trucks with goods, and no cars belonging to workers and merchants from Barta’a in the parking lot.
Many families crossing to visit relatives in Barta’a in the seam zone; other families crossing for visits on the West Bank. All were accompanied by many children, and in holiday dress. People crossed quickly to the West Bank. I wasn’t able to see how long it took to cross into the seam zone.
Many cars drove from the seam zone to the West Bank. Taxi drivers also made money.
11:15 I left the festive atmosphere at the checkpoint.
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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