Northern checkpoint, Tura: what will they tell their grandchildren about their army service?

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Northern checkpoints

Observers:

Rachel Weizmann, Ruthi Tuval (Reporting) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Sep-10-2019

Afternoon

Preparations for installing light poles at Yaabed Junction

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Barta’a Checkpoint is very crowded today.

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Someone has mended the deep crack in the road at Shaked Junction

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

At 15:00 we drove past Barta’a Checkpoint on our way to the two checkpoints with the concrete roadblocks on the border of Area C near Area A where we cannot enter. There were no soldiers at Hermesh Checkpoint and the cars were weaving in and out among the concrete roadblocks. We saw soldiers at the other side of Yaabed Checkpoint, but cars were driving through there as well. Just in front of the checkpoint the Israel Road Construction Company is building an infrastructure for the developing settlement of Mevo Dotan. Workers coming home to Jenin waved hello to us and a settler turning into Mevo Dotan shouted “Get out of here, you maniac!”

At about 15:45 we returned to Barta’a Checkpoint. The parking lot on the Palestinian side was filled with cars and transport vehicles, all of which were honking loudly as they made their way through. There was a lot of commotion, and even the two brothers Muhammed and Fadi were running around selling coffee from their thermos jugs in the dangerous traffic.

On our way to Tura – Shaked Checkpoint we were surprised to find that the deep crack in the road at the Shaked junction near the army base had finally been filled in with some improvised asphalt – evidently a local initiative. At the checkpoint itself, which is known for the litter along the road leading to it – there was little traffic and an air of laziness in the heat.

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)