North checkpoints - Palestinian arrested after 5 hours of waiting in the sun

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Observers:

Marina Banai, Ruti Toubal Translator: Charles K.

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Jun-14-2022

Afternoon

Waiting for the driver

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Road system (for military use)

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

14:25 Tura-Shaked checkpoint

Nothing at all is happening at the checkpoint. A young woman exits and is picked up by a taxi that came out soon after her. Since the nearby gap in the separation fence was mended the guard tower, which had been vacant for many years, is permanently manned. We tried to speak with the soldier who had apparently photographed us but he wasn’t interested.

At 15:00 we crossed through the Barta’a checkpoint and met Na’am, who is the volunteer director of “Baderech LeHachlama” on the West Bank. We transfer through him funds that have been donated to the organization for M., a girl from Al-Yamoun, who fell from the roof of her house about six years ago and needs treatment and medications. All the parking areas, near and far, were completely full. Large warning stickers had been affixed to the windshields of three cars parked along the road – they’re very difficult to remove.

E. arrested after 5 hours of waiting in the sun

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

We continued to the Yabed-Dothan checkpoint. We arrived at 15:20. We immediately noticed a Palestinian car parked opposite the pillbox in the area on the other side of the road, because its doors were opened wide. We parked near the intersection and started walking toward it. We walked around the concrete barriers. We’re usually stopped and prevented from approaching this area. This time, although an armed soldier watched us from high in the pillbox, no one shouted at us or made us leave. A Palestinian man, A., who sat in the car beneath the blazing sun, told us excitedly in Arabic (of which we understood only a little) that he’s already been waiting four hours, from 11:00 AM! His ID had been taken as well as one of his two telephones. He showed us a bag filled with cash and a bank document. We question the soldiers; they tell us “it’s a military matter.” At Chana Barag’s suggestion, we telephoned the Salem DCO. Colonel A. agreed to speak with the Palestinian, then gave us some information about him and promised to get back to us after he looked into it. Eventually, at 16:23, he informed us that the man will be arrested, even though no one had said anything to him. An officer and soldier had arrived in the interim with a large bottle of cold water. A. rinsed his face. We plan to drive to Ummeriha to buy him something to eat, start to leave, look back for a minute and before our very eyes see the soldiers blindfold him with a black cloth, handcuff him and lead him to the closed area at the foot of the pillbox. It seemed they had waited only for us to leave.

Many cars, filled with workers, some greeting us by name. Traffic stops briefly when the three cross the road. We left with a heavy heart and many unanswered questions.

16:40 We again go through the Barta’a-Dothan checkpoint. Dozens of workers walk along the road to the distant parking lots. They move in groups down the long, fenced corridor from the seam zone to the terminal and the West Bank.

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)