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Tura checkpoint: a change -  the garbage container has moved to a new place

Observers: Ruthi Tuval (picture), Marina Banai (reporting), Trtanslation Hanna Shtein
May-21-2019
| Afternoon

15.20. On a hot Ramadan day we travelled to Hermesh checkpoint. There were no soldiers at the checkpoint. All was quiet and cars passed the checkpoint.

15.30. Yabed-Dothan checkpoint.

We got out of the car and two soldiers came down from the tower to greet us, and asked who we were. They advised us to look after ourselves because the cars drive ‘like crazy.’ They are new soldiers of infantry unit 7014. There we also saw one of the new armoured cars, produced in the U.S.A., that the Palestinian Authority received with Israel’s permission.

15.55. Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint.

Here, too, it was quiet. People worn out by Ramadan fast dragged themselves in the heat, looking for shelter in shade. The opening to the sleeve was open and we went to see what was happening. A young man who spoke good Hebrew approached us, complaining that through the opening women were also passing and that the contact between men and women in the narrow sleeve disturbed him. He also complained that there are no proper steps at the entrance – just two blocks which easily trip one; that there is no shade cover for drivers who are waiting for workers returning from work; that the sidewalk at the entrance is slippery and dangerous. In short, many complaints for one day.

16.35. We wanted to leave, but were held for short questioning and  complete security search in a screening machine of bags of used clothing that were in the trunk of the car.

16.45. Tura-Shaked checkpoint.

Very light traffic. One car from the West Bank to the seam zone in a quarter of an hour. Manu tobacco fields next to the checkpoint, and adults and children riding in them on electric bikes. The garbage container that until now has stood near the approach road to the checkpoint, always overflowing with army refuse, has been moved to the other side of the checkpoint, close to the system. Perhaps now the soldiers will be more responsible about the mess they create.

 

  • 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).

  • 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)
      מחסום עאנין:  פרצה מפוארת במרכז המחסום
      Mar-21-2022
      Anin Checkpoint: A magnificent breach in the center of the checkpoint
  • 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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