Turah checkpoint: Sheep are not allowed to pass through the checkpoint

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Hermesh

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Jewish settler-colonists injure Palestinian shepherds’ grazing sheep and goats

Observers:

Rachel W. and Neta G. (Reporting) Marcia L., Translation

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Mar-9-2023

Afternoon

Barta'a - earthworks damage the beautiful landscape of the hills

Photo:

Tami Ritov

15:00 – Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint

Rain. The traffic flows in two directions. The voice of the muezzin can be heard from the town of Ya’bed opposite the checkpoint. Two Palestinian cars without drivers are parked perpendicular to the road opposite the guard tower. We don’t know why.

15:30 – Barta’a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone side

We went down the terminal sleeve info-icon (the enclosed, covered path to the terminal) together with those returning from work at this hour. The kiosk was closed. Someone said that it is open only on Thursdays, perhaps because people buy cakes on Thursdays for the weekend. Two people returned and complained about the late opening hour in the morning, on the crowding and being late to work, and then returned again to request that they open at 04:00 and not at 04:30. One of them said that he waited a long time outside, in the rain, and now his back hurts. The other man said it took him an hour and a half to cross. When we went back up to our car, the flow of those going down (the sleeve) increased.

16:00 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

A few cars cross the bank (of the road). A small line of three cars waits in front of the checkpoint. A young man who crossed on foot waits in the shed for his friend, who will come in a car and take him to work. He is an English speaker, 35 years old, a resident of Tura, a father of three children, and who supports his family and his parents. He is a graduate of Business Administration at the Open University in Jenin. In order to support everyone, he works in the morning in his profession in Jenin, and in the afternoon, he works in the woodworking factory in the industrial area of Shahak, in the Seamline Zone. He finishes work at 11:00 p.m. and returns home to Tura via Barta’a Checkpoint because the Tura Checkpoint is closed at night. His brother, a doctor, who lives in Ramallah, sometimes sends money to his parents, but the concern for them primarily falls on him. He justifiably complains that the situation is bad, but about the checkpoint itself, he has no complaints.

16:20 – We didn’t want to wait for the friend in the car, so we travel home.

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)