A shooting incident in the Shaked settlement

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Crowding

DCO (District Coordination Offices)

Observers:

Rachel W. and Ruti T. Marcia L., Translation

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Jan-17-2023

Morning

The Turah checkpoint is locked in the morning

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Ya'abad checkpoint looks abandoned

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

A new car park south to Barta`a checkpoint

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Tobacco leaves hang to dry near the isolated house

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

06:55 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

An accident on Route 6 delayed us. When we arrived, there was still much traffic at the checkpoint. Many people go up via the sleeve info-icon (the enclosed passage to the terminal) and many workers wait for transportation shuttles to their workplaces, especially in Harish city. We gave up on the entrance to the parking lot on the Palestinian side, which was full and very crowded. In Amricha, at F.’s store, we left a rocking chair for a baby info-icon .

07:10 – Ya’bed-Dotan and the settlement of Harmish

Very lively movement of military vehicles. A military ambulance is positioned to the west, seemingly waiting for someone who needs to come from the direction of Jenin. Five armored vehicles actually came from there just as we started to move so we didn't have time to see if there was any connection between them. They continued towards the Barta'a checkpoint and we were toward the Hermesh settlement. There is nothing new at the checkpoint. We returned on our heels.

Active traffic of military vehicles. A military ambulance is positioned to the west, apparently waiting for someone needing it, coming from the direction of Jenin. Five armored vehicles actually came from there exactly as we started to move, so we didn’t have a chance to see if there was contact between them. They continued towards the Barta’a Checkpoint and us in the direction of Hermesh settlement. At the checkpoint, there is nothing new. We retraced our steps.

07:45 – Barta’a Checkpoint

A convoy of about 15 cars was on its way to inspection. In the meantime, all the workers were picked up from the junction and traveled to work.

8:05 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

Very quiet. Perhaps we were late? We went to visit the lone house in the area, next to the fence of Shaked settlement. Tobacco leaves are drying in the olive groves. There is a lot of litter in the area; dogs bask in the sunshine.

We returned to Tura Checkpoint because we noticed two cars waiting next to it. This time we got out to see what was happening. The main entry gate to the checkpoint was indeed wide open (for cars) but the sleeve for pedestrians was locked. There were no soldiers present. Several people waited at the second passage of the checkpoint. We tried to find out at the District Coordination Office (DCO), but, for a long time, they refuse to speak with us. A driver from Umm Reihan heard from the head of the village that during the night there were shots at the Shaked settlement and that the checkpoint would be open in two hours. “How is it possible to live like this,” he asked. Several soldiers in a civilian car crossed the checkpoint and disappear on the highway. A woman who drives an elderly woman and a child arrives as far as the signal in the heart of the checkpoint, discovers there is no one there and goes back. She will cross at the Barta’a checkpoint. A bus truck covered with mud arrives from the highway.

The telephone of Lieutenant-colonel A., the commander of the DCO, is busy. He gets back to us on his own initiative! He says that shots yesterday were carried out around the checkpoint and almost killed a 3-year-old child in Shaked. He claims he sent a representative from the DCO to direct workers and students to the Barta’a Checkpoint. We start to understand the meaning of the massive army traffic at Ya’abed Checkpoint earlier in the morning.

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)