ג’למה, מבוא דותן (אמריחה), ריחן, שקד, יום א’ 10.6.12, בוקר
Translator: Charles K.
07:00 Shaked checkpoint
I haven’t been here for a few months, and found a “new” checkpoint. Everything’s paved, fenced corridors, even traffic lights! It’s shiny and new but still can’t hide the fact that it divides one village in two, two neighborhoods separated by agricultural land.
It looks as if the checkpoint is being privatized and is spreading beyond the border (whose existing location is completely illegitimate, just like its big brother, the Reihan checkpoint).
Everything adds up to the following statement: I’m here, and I’ll be here forever.
Is anyone still hoping for two states for two peoples?
Crossing proceeds normally, the Shahaknight shift workers return from their jobs wearing “Carmel Carpets” shirts. I assume that in the morning people still go to work through the Reihan checkpoint, which opens at 5 AM, not at 7. Apparently cars are supposed to obey the traffic light, not the wave of the hand indicating they should come through. I didn’t see them in action; what are the traffic lights for? Pupils are already on vacation. A few female students crossed, and one male. Many laborers went through to their jobs in the seam zone.
08:00 Reihan checkpoint
The lower parking lot is almost completely full. About five vehicles loaded with produce wait to be called for the tiresome inspection procedure. At the exit from the fenced corridor many taxis wait to transport laborers to jobs in Barta’a.
08:15 Dothancheckpoint
More traffic than usual in both directions. Occasionally IDs are inspected. A few youths were lined up next to a taxi and each presented an ID for inspection.
We’re known here; no one paid us any particular attention.
09:00 Jalameh
A “legitimate” border crossing, on the Green Line. A heavy flow of cars belonging to Arab Israelis crosses fairly quickly toward Jenin. Many come to visit relatives on Saturdays, and it turns out that traffic is also heavy on weekdays. Most of the laborers have already crossed to their jobs in Israel.
I only mention this checkpoint in order to publicly thank Shmuel, the checkpoint manager, who helped us return A. and his two daughters in our car. They had gone through the checkpoint earlier, on their way to RambamHospital, but had to turn back because the father didn’t feel well. It wasn’t the first time that Shmuel efficiently helped people needing assistance, and treated them well.
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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Jalama
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North of Jenin, on the Green Line between Israel and the West Bank. A big terminal for the passage of Palestinians with permits allowing entrance into Israel and goods into Israel operates there. In the course of 2009 the terminal was opened for the passage of Israeli Arabic citizens into the West Bank. Since October 2009 they may pass in their cars.
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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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