Close to Hermash checkpoint: agricultural roads are blocked

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Hermesh

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Denying Palestinians access to their agricultural lands

Walls and Blockades

Observers:

Marina Bannai and Ruti Tuval Translation: Naomi Halsted

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Jul-9-2023

Afternoon

Hermash checkpoint is operated by a paratrooper patrol

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Between Hermash checkpoint and Amariha: an agricultural road is blocked for farmers

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Marina in the abandoned bedroom of the settlers at Hermesh checkpoint

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

The sleeve at the Barta`a checkpoint: a woman has difficulty walking in the endless sleeve

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

14:50 Barta’a Reihan checkpoint

We cross through the checkpoint and continue onwards. Facing us are some huge parking lots for people coming to Barta’a and most of them are full.

15:00 Hermesh checkpoint

Two soldiers from a paratrooper patrol are manning the checkpoint and checking cars coming from Qaffin and Tulkarm. Our friend A from Ya’bed told us on the phone that several of the dirt roads leading to the agricultural lands were blocked by heaps of stones and dirt immediately after the terrorist attack at Hermesh. He asks us to do something.

On the way to Ya’bed checkpoint, we see a watchtower (pillbox) manned by soldiers. The gate leading to the Maoz Tzvi settlement is wide open.

15:30 Ya’bed Dotan checkpoint

This checkpoint is held by paratroopers too. Traffic from Jenin goes through the checkpoint on a side dirt road on the northern side. Soldiers address the drivers with a “Habibi” (“my dear”) and inspect the trunks of the cars. A large number of soldiers arrive in a huge vehicle and unpack equipment, as if they’re preparing for a long stay. One of them comes up to us and warns us of gunfire.

15:50 Barta’a-Reihan checkpoint – Seamline Zone side

A huge number of workers are coming back to the West Bank from work. There’s lively traffic of families with small children returning from the West Bank.

16:35 Tura-Shaked checkpoint

Border Police are in charge of this quiet checkpoint. A beautiful horse wanders down the road to Daher el Maleh.

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)