Northern checkpoints: Tents standing in front of a sealed gap

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Breach in the separation fence

Observers:

Marina Banai and Ruti Tubal (photos)

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May-3-2022

Afternoon

Tura checkpoint: A tent standing in front of a sealed gap

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

The pillbox at the Yabed-Dotan checkpoint

Photo:

Marina Banai

The eve of Memorial Day. On the phone with Barta’a Checkpoint, we still don’t know exactly when closure info-icon will take effect, but we were informed that in any case it will not be effective for anyone crossing into the seam zone. The holiday that begins as the Ramadan month of fasting and ends with Id Al Fitr – is still being celebrated and we expected to meet festive families on their way to visit relatives on both sides of the Separation Fence.

14:20: Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint. The car parks are nearly empty. Very little traffic. Few people descend inside the ‘sleeve info-icon ’ towards the West Bank. Women and children, festively dressed, climb on foot alongside the road and are picked up by a taxi. The further car parks on the hills are entirely empty.

14:30: Ya’abad-Dotan Checkpoint. Israeli flags and those of the ‘Samaria’ Regional Council wave in the strong wind all along the way. The army gate on the way to Maoz Tzvi settlement is locked. At the checkpoint, an infantry reconnaissance officer approaches us, without any protective gear as is usually the case. He thought we came to pay our respects at the nearby memorial. “Yes, I know what MachsomWatch is. I am an Israeli citizen,” he said. A few cars with Palestinian and Israeli license plates pass without delay.

We hopped over to the deserted Hermesh Checkpoint. Many cars carrying women and children passed us driving towards Area A. To the right of the junction, on a dirt road, stood a white pickup truck with the police light on its roof.

Back to the Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint. 13 cars waited for inspection. The car park on the Palestinian side was nearly empty and this gave us a chance to drive to the end and watch what until not so long ago was the track leading to an apparently very wide breach: barbed wire still shining in the sunlight has been installed, dozens of meters long.

15:40 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint. A “tent” (camouflage sheet over a pole) has been placed there recently, facing a closed breach in the fence. Two tired soldiers came out. The reason for placing them there only a few meters away from a manned checkpoint is not clear to us. The traffic at the checkpoint moves easily. We saw only one festive family crossing into the West Bank through the ‘sleeve’. Someone coming back from there confirmed to us that closure will be in effect beginning tonight, but not for residents of the seam zone.

16:15: Although it is not active today we visited the Anin Agricultural Checkpoint, only to learn of the new security procedures. Soldiers from the Nahal Brigade no. 50 (they told us themselves) are responsible for guarding the checkpoint which had been breached until recently, and is no longer so.

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)