Northern checkpoints: Palestinians pass freely through loopholes in the fence to get to work in Israel

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Separation fence

Northern checkpoints

Observers:

Marina B. and Ruti T. (Reporter and Photographer Marcia L., Translation

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Jul-2-2020

Morning

Barta'a checkpoint: Trucks with goods from the West Bank are awaiting inspection

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Hermesh area: Drying of tobacco leaves continues

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

At around 06:30, on the road between Harish and Barta’a Checkpoint, we saw a lot of workers who came in the direction of the West from the West Bank, and who crossed the separation fence through large gaps. We would never have foreseen such a phenomenon. They explained to us that at the Barta’a Checkpoint, they allow passage only to the Seamline zone, and forbid crossing into Israel, because of the recent Corona outbreak. But the fence is open, and the workers in Harish pass through to work without bother. The army knows.

We didn’t photograph this, so as not to embarrass them.

We crossed Barta’a Checkpoint. At the automobile inspection, there were a number of parked vehicles and a security guard with a dog. Above the sleeve info-icon that was lately extended, (the enclosed passage from the parking lot to the terminal), many men and women passed through.

06:50 – Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint

The checkpoint is not staffed with soldiers and cars that approach from Jenin, take advantage of the opportunity to by-pass the large cement blocks in the side dirt road.

A tender driver who arrives from the direction of Ya’bed, says that he works for a black man, a landowner, at the bottom of Mevo Dotan. A car from Mevo Dotan suddenly stops next to us, diagonally in the middle of the road. The female driver, after she heard we were all right and were only observing the checkpoint, asked angrily if we saw how stones were thrown at her in road. Happily, we did not see. She then yelled at us that she and her family only do good for “them”: her granddaughter employs 300 (!) Palestinians.

On the way back to Barta’a Checkpoint, we again visited the tobacco fields and we saw the drying leaves. This time we met workers that loaded bundles of tobacco, which they transfer on the shortcut to Ya’bed. For every package of 20 cigarettes, the grower/producer of the cigarettes, gets NIS 4. At Barta’a Checkpoint, they are sold for NIS 5.

07:40 – Barta’a Checkpoint

The truck parking lot is full, and the garbage spills over from the container. The security guard approaches us and instructs us not to photograph. We convince him that they are just artistic photos; we don’t see anything secret; he is placated with our answer. He says the garbage is “theirs”. He is not responsible for the small heap of garbage that grows beyond the gate. The division of land really occurs before our eyes. We crossed the loaded parking lot. Five people ask for our help in getting permits. A couple that arrived with a baby info-icon , appear in the end of the sleeve from the second passageway of the checkpoint. The sleeve, is very long, and someone joked that in another four meters, “they would already arrive at Barta’a!” He checked and found that the sleeve is 380 meters (including the new addition of 150 meters) and it was all uphill. According to him, that makes it difficult for older people and women. In truth, a man who was somewhat older, panted, saying he is dying to arrive in a car and then he cursed Israel in Arabic.

Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

Again, sacks of garbage from the army were strewn around the area. Polite soldiers send a driver on his way with these warm words: “Have a good day,” and a soldier who passed next to us in a car, stopped and told us, “Take care of yourselves.”

Location Description

Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

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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

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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).

Ya’abad-Dotan

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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)