Reihan, Shaked, Ya’bed-Dotan, Sun 23.12.12, Morning
Translated by Dvora K.
What a beautiful, clear day. Everything is green and shiny with dew, the land is dark and fruitful. What a wonderful trip, even the anemones are flowering in three colors …. and the army, and the guns, and the CPs and permits and inspections. "And apart from this, everything is fine!"
Shaked-Tura CP
We came five minutes late and people are already going through in vehicles and on foot. The kindergarten children come out of the vehicle that takes them to school and back, and ask Ruthy to take their pictures. They stand alone or in groups, smile as children do, happy. They have their pictures taken and run to the CP to get through it.They do go through without stopping and without having to be inspected. The same happens with the older girls. Students go through the sleeve to the inspection pavilion.
The CP looks like a passage at the border, with lanes (one is closed, and all the people, from there here, from here going there go through on the same lane, taking turns), a traffic light and a pedestrian crossing.
In the inspection post, I can see a woman soldier with a ponytail and a male soldier with a helmet. Nobody complains. We have all gotten used to this. Or have we?
Reihan-Barta'a
The place is full of people. Workers at the top of the sleeve are waiting for their rides; Drivers of the rides and of taxis are waiting for those going through to the seamline zone. We go down on the road and report that we have two bags of clothes with us. The parking lot is already completely full. The entrance is narrow and secured with spurs that allow cars to go in one direction only. The exit is through another narrow opening. We handed over the bags. The entrance into the terminal is flowing with no delays. On the road there are six loaded trucks waiting for inspection.
Dothan-Ya'abed CP
The CP is active. Cars in the direction of Jenin (to the east) usually go through without inspection or only with the inspection of documents. In the westerly direction, there is a truck with a private car on it. Soldiers climb up and inspect it. For the most part, cars going west are inspected more carefully. Reservists are doing it. In a conversation we expressed our opinions and we explained why and for what purpose we are there.
Reihan-Barta'a CP
On our way back we met Ron, the assistant to the person in charge of the CP, and we got some information about the new head, Charlie.
Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint
See all reports for this place-
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
See all reports for this place-
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
-
Ya'bed-Dotan
See all reports for this place-
Ya’bed-Dotan
This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)
-