Reihan, Tue 24.6.08, Morning
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Reihan Checkpoint At 07:40 we already saw pickup trucks loaded with produce, from the first group that entered at 07:00, coming out after inspection: a considerable improvement on the one and a half hours that we had seen in the past. The private cars entering the Seam Zone are also being checked efficiently, and there are almost no vehicles waiting to be checked – we saw only one, and he also did not wait long. Today we devoted half an hour to observing of the passage of vehicles into the Palestinian Authority territory. A car stops by the post, the passengers alight, go one by one to hand over IDs for inspection, get back in the cars and drive off. In one case there was a bus from Bartaa, and a woman accompanied by a child ran down the sleeve waving to the driver. By the time we passed in our car to the lower lot, they had reached the bus and boarded. We asked why they had gone through the terminal while others did not. The driver said that the mother and child had missed the departure from Bartaa, and had apparently come to the checkpoint in a taxi. Transit was smooth and fast. One private car stood by the post at the entrance to the Palestinian Authority, with all its doors wide open. Three passengers went towards the slide and sat on the bench in the garden (it is used!!). Had there been a child, he could also have enjoyed the slide. The checker in the post, in a flak jacket and yellow vest, took with him a mirror attached to a pole, to pass under the vehicle. After the check, all returned to the car and went on their way. A van did not receive permission to pass, so it returned in rear gear. We did not manage to talk to the checker to ascertain the reason. Passage through tyhe terminal in both directions, was flowing and fast. |
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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