Route 611: More and more people pass through the fence
16.45 – 15.30
Cars were stopping next to the two holes in the fence along Route 611 and returning workers to the West Bank. There are more and more cars parked next to the hole near the village of Qeiqis each week. This hole is adjacent to Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint. The security road goes past the lower parking lot there where they have transportation to their homes.
Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint 15:40
Larger transport vehicles such as minibusses and busses also arrive at the official checkpoint, but here works have to cross through the long sleeve until they reach the terminal and lower parking lot. A man with a disability leaning on a cane walked down the sleeve with difficulty. When he approached the terminal the security guard at the vehicle checkpoint saw him and opened the gate in the sleeve, saving him part of the long walk. Is this the usual policy for people with disabilities?
The exit from the checkpoint to the seamline zone and Barta’a is still closed in the afternoon despite the fact that there has been heavy rain and people returning from Jenin have to walk along the long route that is not covered. The number of workers returning to the West bank increases towards 16:00. They called to us to come to observe in the morning when they were forced to wait a long time in the wind and rain before entering the terminal. Crossing was slow and the checkpoint was crowded.
On our way to Tura Checkpoint we saw that the settlement of Reihan had grown and expanded. It is a 7 minute drive from the city of Harish
Tura – Shaked Checkpoint 16:15
Several cars returning from the seamline zone carrying workers preferred to drive to the West Bank along the road that passes the lone house rather than go through the checkpoint. A man who lives in Tura and works in the Shaked Industrial zone has a permit to cross at Tura Checkpoint, but he cannot take advantage of his permit and cross there because the checkpoint never opens on time in the morning. His employer arranged a permit for him to cross at Reihan – Barta’a but that is an unnecessary long trip in the morning. He therefore prefers to cross through the hole in the fence.
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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