Soldier at the filthy Tura checkpoint: This is not our garbage
North, 29.06.2021 Morning
Ruthi Tuval and Marina Banai, Reporting and Observing, Marina Banai (photos)
Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham
06:15 – We drove past the junction at the entrance to East Barta’a on Route 611. There were many workers crossing and sitting by the side of the road waiting for their rides to work and hoping for a day’s work. There were many yellow taxis standing by. Evidently the alternate crossing is still active.
We parked on the Palestinian side of Barta’a Checkpoint. We were pleased to meet our old friend B. who had worked in the Shahak Industrial Zone for many years. The carpet factory where he worked was moved to Jordan and he was offered a job there but turned it down because of COVID-19. Instead he now works as a warehouse manager in a factory at the same location that imports synthetic fertilizer from China.
The parking lot was very dirty but we were told not to worry because a cleaning worker would arrive at 07:00. This is something new in the parking lot. There are now subscription parking places available on a weekly basis. There is a red booth next to the entrance and exit to the parking lot that looks like a shiny red kiosk. We left two packages with the security guard for N., the driver who would arrive that afternoon.
07:10 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint
It was quiet and there was only light traffic. The surrounding fields were well – tended. We drove up a new white side road that was made of chalk stone that ran through the tobacco fields. The road lead to the wadi (riverbed) that runs between Mevo Dotan A and B. Two young men wearing hoodies were hoeing the weeds in the fields.
We returned to Barta’a Checkpoint. Trucks were driving in our lane towards the inspection booth because a vehicle was blocking the truck lane.
08:00 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
People were beginning to pick tobacco near the checkpoint from the bottom up. Two vehicles were waiting at the red light to cross. A woman soldier was stationed in the concrete observation point. Her rifle was pointed forward but she was falling asleep. A soldier denied our accusation that their garbage was scattered along both sides of the road. We removed a sheet of paper from the District Coordination and Liaison Office with names of Palestinians printed on it, but they claimed that the paper had simply blown away and that they take their garbage away with them to the base.
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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East Barta'a Junction
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East Barta'a Junction
The main station at the eastern Barta'a junction (Roads 611/6115).
A junction without special activities became about April 2020 a bustling center of transportation to workplaces in Israel, following the free passage through loopholes in the nearby separation fence.
Palestinian workers from all over the West Bank gather here every morning, without transit permits and often without masks. The army is turning a blind eye and the occupation is losing control.
There is also no shortage of coffee and pastry stalls.
Hagar DrorSep-26-2023Barta'a: rapid construction of the separation fence
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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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Ya'bed-Dotan
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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)
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