Shaked settlement invades and expands into Palestinian territory
14:50-17:15
We passed Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint. Workers were already going down the sleeve on their way to the West Bank.
Hermesh Checkpoint has not served as a checkpoint for some time and its equipment has become junk lying in the field.
Traffic at Yaabed – Dotan was flowing without delay. Three soldiers from Nachal approached us and we asked them why the area was turning into a garbage dump like Tura Shaked Checkpoint. We began to clean up the area together. They thought that we were from the Ministry of Ecology now that it is in the hands of the leftists…
We returned to Reihan – Barta’a checkpoint. There were ten cars waiting at the vehicle checkpoint and the securi8ty guard explained that this was typical at rush hour.
On our way to Tura – Shaked Checkpoint we decided to take a look at the industrial zone near the settlement of Reihan. The new road was paved with fresh asphalt and bordered with curbstones. The new building that was to serve as a storeroom for groceries was not yet operating. We continued on and discovered a new factory for manufacturing and renovating mobile homes. Some of them had been brought from Hebron. The factory belongs to a settler from the settlement of Shaked. The worker who received us was A., who was 48 years old from the “lone house” near Tura Checkpoint. He immediately asked about Noa who had been active in attempting to connect his house to the electrical network. He asked where she was and sent her regards, saying he would not forget her. He and the settler who owns the factory are good friends and he likes his job. Later we saw him at Tura Checkpoint on his way home.
Nothing was new at Tura Shaked Checkpoint. It was still littered with garbage and traffic was moving slowly.
However, between the checkpoint and Dahar al Malek and the settlement of Shaked changes had taken place. We went closer to see (see photos) and heard more details from A., our acquaintance who works as a driver in the seamline zone and knows what is going on there. The area between Dahar al Malek and Shaked . There used to be an olive grove but the land has been turned over to the JNF to expand the settlement of Shaked. After a furious struggle the boundary of the village of Dahar al Malek was established after it had been determined that it would be set directly at the walls of its houses. It now includes the road that surrounds it, including a house that was built in 1948 on the other side of the road. At first they had considered moving the small school that was built there, but in the end they decided to leave it in place. We also learned that the road to the “lone house” had been paved with the help of the District Coordination and Liaison Office and the JNF. We had heard at first that the Palestinian Authority had also helped with the project. It was now clear why a part of the road had been paved through the olive grove. The settlement of Shaked is expanding at the expense of Dahar Al Malek and the lone house will become an enclave like many other places in the seamline zone. A. explained that most of the residents of the village work in the settlement or in the “Shahak” industrial zone and therefore don’t usually complain about what is being done on their private land. . We will continue to follow the process of disownment that is taking place here.
After we left A. we saw a soldier chasing after A. from the Lone House and hurried to see what was going on, but , he later said that everything was all right – he knew who he was and turned back.
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)
Ruti TuvalMar-21-2022Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
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