Tura checkpoint: Everything is going slowly
We arrived from the direction of Harish. We are amazed to observe how this city has grown, especially after we learned that it is tolerant and willing to absorb many excluded population groups. The trees are growing and promise to provide shade perhaps by next summer. The main street is already crowded and it was difficult to find a place to park. We later learned that the residents are plagued each morning by traffic jams when they leave for work.
15:30 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint
The checkpoint was quiet and filthy as usual. Last week we were in contact with the Ministry of Security regarding the maintenance of the seamline zone area. We had a three – way phone call two days later with a sub- contractor from the village of Salem who knows about the litter at the checkpoint but he is not sure that he is responsible. He is responsible for the dirt road along the separation barrier and is not familiar with the term “seamline zone”. We are not sure whether he holes in the barrier amused him. We will see what happened. At the checkpoint itself a car was waiting patiently to cross while a female soldier leisurely served a drink to the soldier in position on the concrete barrier. They conducted things slowly until we approached and asked them just how long they planned to delay. Finally the car was allowed to cross and several others crossed to the West Bank without delay.
15:55 – We drove by Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint. The long sleeve was filled with workers returning home and the parking lot on the Palestinian side was full.
16:05 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint
Cars were crossing here without delay and driving slowly through the concrete barriers. Drivers waved to us in greeting, smiled and asked how we were doing and if we needed help, including a settler from Mevo Dotan.
16:30 – Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side
Many workers were returning home. Most looked pleased. Some were carrying presents for their children. Most, but not all, were managing well and had done their day’s work. One person received a permit to enter Israel for five days to look for work in Israel found a certified contractor who was willing to hire him, but he has no permit to work in Israel. Will the contractor wait until he gets a permit? Meanwhile we gave him Sylvia’s phone number and wished him luck. We also met one of the seamstresses from Barta’a whom we had not seen for a long time. We told her “We haven’t seen you for a long time” and gestured, and we hugged her excitedly despite COVID-19.
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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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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