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Reihan, Shaked, Wed 28.5.08, Morning

Observers: Vivian, Nava, and two guests, M.and H.
May-28-2008
| Morning

Translation: Yael Bassis-Student

07:45 Shaked/Tura checkpoint

Despite the routine at the checkpoint, there is always a special story.
Today the two-months-old baby, Muhamed, was transferred from Tura to the Mother/child care station at Um-el-Rhian.
Muhamed was born there, in the Seam-Line zone, and is listed as a resident of Um-el-Rihan. But in fact he lives with his parents on the Eastern side of the fence and the checkpoint. As far as I understand, at times the baby is allowed passage and at other times he is not. There are occasions in which he is allowed out but later the soldiers would not allow his return home at the West Bank.
In order for the baby to receive proper treatment at the Mother/child care station, his creative parents thought of a solution: they bring him over to the checkpoint in a baby carrier, the soldiers check out the baby and transfer the 'basket' to the grandfather, who is waiting on the other side, who then takes him to the mother/child care station and brings him back to the father, who waits with a cellular telephone on the Eastern side of the checkpoint.
The baby is breast-fed, which only complicates matters more.
Sounds surreal?
This is reality.

08:45 – We left

08:55 – Barta'a /Rihan checkpoint

Only a few people cross over to the Seam-Line zone. 2 pick up trucks  were inspected, one truck is awaiting inspection.

10:00 – 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Ruti Tuval
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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