Barta'a-Reihan, Hermesh, Tura-Shaked

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Hermesh

Tura-Shaked

Tags:

Seam Zone

Observers:

Marina B. and Ruti T. (Reporting), Marcia L., Translation

Leave this field blank

Feb-9-2020

Afternoon

Tura checkpoint: Waiting for the soldier to return

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Barta'a checkpoint: Marina on the background of the checkpoint

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

The weather during this observation is very cold. According to Google it is 7º C., but feels like 4º.

Hermesh Checkpoint

The checkpoint is open and the passage zigzags around the huge cement blocks, without delays. An abundance of white and pink anemones already blooms in the fields. We are on the way to the Ya’bed checkpoint, which is aslo open.

The entire area of the Barta’a Checkpoin,t on the Palestinian side, is full of parked cars. Drivers of the private cars that operate as taxis wait in their cars and the others stand outside, covered up in their coats. Little Mohammed and Hani run around between the cars with their coffee thermoses, dressed too lightly for the weather. At the exit from the checkpoint we are requested by the secure people to hand over our identity cards and wait at the red “X” in the road. We are released after a few minutes without an explanation.

Tura Checkpoint

A car is waiting to cross the checkpoint in the direction of the West Bank. We wait five minutes and enter to find out why the car is delayed: “The woman soldier went to the lavatory. The car has to wait. Go outside immediately.” In the meantime, there are additional cars at the checkpoint, coming from two directions. The first one waits at least 15 minutes. Pedestrians, among them a man carrying a parrot in a cage for his children. He passes quickly in the direction of the West Bank. A woman from Umm Reihan, returning from the West Bank, who has already passed through on foot— is waiting for her husband, who is delayed in his car. In Umm Reihan, we enters the minimarket and stock up on bio-yogurt, cookies, dates, and other sweets - everything you need for the coming Tu B’Shevat (festival of the trees) holiday.

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).