The occupation is conducted in two channels: checkpoints and loopholes in the separation fence
15:30- 16:45
East Barta’a Junction
We drove along Route 611 that runs between Harish city and Barta’a Checkpoint. We slowly passed the section that runs along the separation fence to see whether the holes in the fence are still open to those who are “building our country.” At 15:30 a few workers were already arriving whose employers were dropping them off as close as possible to the holes in the fence. An improvised parking lot has already been created on the other side of the fence on the slopes of the small village of kalkis. Meanwhile it is working and saves the ridicule of the “passages” as they are called in military language.
15:15 – Barta’a Checkpoint Seamline Zone Side
Many men and women were hurrying down the sleeve from their rides on their way home to the West bank from work in the hot afternoon heat. We walked down the sleeve with them as far as the first of the three turnstiles they would have to cross through. Someone told us about how the security guards harass them in the morning. Workers are crowded into the inspection room and are detained there for a long time. Sometimes it takes 40 minutes to cross, for no apparent reason. Another person called to us cynically: “Bring us permits to stay overnight in Israel.” From the sleeve we were able to see the shiny new gate at the exit from the inspection facility for large and small trucks that carry cargo. A friendly guard let us stand close by and watch the vehicles drive through the IL to PL lane on their way to Area C and the West Bank.
16:30 Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
There was light traffic at the checkpoint as vehicles drove from one side to the other. Workers were crossing to the West Bank on their way home from work. Other people were crossing to the seamline zone on their way back from studies or shopping in Jenin and the surrounding area. Two “industrious” young men (as Pierre called them, claiming that in Israel people don’t want to work) who were brought here by their employers attempted to cross to Tura on the other side of the fence. Evidently they had succeeded previously, but this time they were sent back to cross at Barta’a Checkpoint, which is far away. They did not wish to waste NIS 50 on a useless taxi ride back to the village that is right her on the other side of the fence. All of us understand what they intended to do. .
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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