Translation: Bracha B.A.

06:20 – Reihan Barta’a Checkpoint
06:20 Reihan-Barta’a Checkpoint weather is unusually stormy. We drove through thick fog along the road to the northern checkpoints. The road is narrow and winding for most of the way and it is dark. There is heavy rain and strong wind and we arrived at our destination late and decided not to go to the agricultural checkpoint at A’anin because of the late hour.. At Barta’a checkpoint we met a sleepy driver who told us that only a few people had gone to work today: those who work at the Shahak Industrial zone near Shaked and the seamstresses who work in the sewing factory in Barta’a. Passage through the checkpoint was quick and if Leah had to remind the guard in the booth to open the gate to the checkpoint.

Drivers were loading trays of eggs onto one of the tenders. We can hear the dogs at the checkpoint barking in the background. Two tenders are waiting to enter the inspection facility to have their agricultural cargo checked. Meanwhile the drivers are dozing. On the road leading from the checkpoint towards Jenin there are no checkpoints and Sharon, the manager of the checkpoint, told us that we can drive along that road until we reach the Dotan checkpoint.

A. from Um Reihan tells us that last night there has been a confrontation at Shaked-Tura Checkpoint. One of the people passing through from the West Bank to the seamline zone did not stop to be checked, and left his documents with the army and fled. The checkpoint was closed immediately and vehicles were sent to find the man, who was caught but later released.

07:15 – Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
Children are still on vacation from school and without the students there the checkpoint is empty.. We did not meet anyone and could not find out what had happened yesterday. Two vehicles drove across and back in the other direction, and another wet person walks through with his face to the ground.

07:45 – It was cold again and we left.

Location Description

Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

See all reports for this place

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-22-2022

Ruti Tuval

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint

View the full album

Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

See all reports for this place

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).

Reihan, Shaked, Mon 18.1.10, Morning

Translation: Bracha B.A.

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint