Barta'a checkpoint: Complaining about the crowded crossing in the morning

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Tags:

Breach in the separation fence

Observers:

Rachel Weizman and Hannah Heller (photos) Translation: Bracha Ben Avraham

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Jul-6-2021

Afternoon

Shaked settlement

Photo:

Rachel Weizmann

The expansion of the Shaked settlement reaches as far as the extremist house in Daher al-Malech

Tura Checkpoint – 15:25 – A couple returned from shopping in Jenin and called their taxi driver who works in the seamline zone who came to pick them up. Another couple returned from Jenin in their car. Eight workers returned to the West Bank from work in Israel and the seamline zone. Several cars crossed quickly in both directions.

We observed the work being done to expand the settlement of Shaked. And saw rocks designated for the fence that would encompass the outermost house of Dahar al Malik.

Barta’a Checkpoint – 16:00

The wedding season has begun! Two groups of 10-20 Palestinians were sitting under the shade in the upper parking lot. They are residents of the villages near Jenin who work as servers at weddings in Wadi Ara's villages. Most of them have no crossing permits and they cross through the holes in the separation fence carrying knapsacks with black suits and white shirts. They work often at weddings in Israel, and when they work in Kfar Kassem they cross through the hole in the fence near G'at Checkpoint.

Dozens of workers were returning from work and walking down the sleeve info-icon . The younger people take a short cut by jumping over the fence. People complained that in the mornings only one of two entrances is open and it is very crowded even during these days of COVID.

A humanitarian non-profit organization of war victims called "Palestinegoodness" donated another water cooler at the upper entrance to the terminal.

Route 611 – 16:30 – A parking lot has been set up next to Barta’a Checkpoint on the road leading to the village of Kalkis on the way to the popular hole in the fence. Occasionally a car stops on the road to drop off workers who cross through the hole in the fence.

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).