Northern checkpoints: The knafeh that will bring peace

Place:

Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

Loophole model: Route 611

Tura-Shaked

Tags:

Breach in the separation fence

Environmental Hazards

Observers:

Ruthi Edmonds, Hannah Heller, and Pierre (Driver) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Mar-21-2022

Afternoon

Road 611: Obstacle to shuttle vehicles

Photo:

Hanna Heller

Route 611: Despite the obstacle the cars are parked

Photo:

Hanna Heller

A stand for cheese and noodle delicacies (Knaffa)

Photo:

Hanna Heller

Location Description

Tura-Shaked

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Tura-Shaked

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).

Loophole model: Route 611

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Loophole model: Route 611

A magnificent loophole in the separation fence. Like this loophole, many more along the entire barrier of separation.
Route 611, was to the shuttle station to Israel. It leaves the city of Harish westward along the northern seam zone and reaches the intersection with road 596, close to the Barta'a Reihan checkpoint.
Most of the road passes the separation barrier and the military road (in the east), and also in front of the loophole and more and more loopholes open and wide gaps in the fence on the Palestinian side.
There were loopholes in the fence from when it was established in the early 2000s, but they were hidden and far away and with no easy access. Since the army turned a blind eye to the pirated and free entry into Israel, the passage has become visible, people arrive at the breaches in private vehicles and taxis on the side of the West Bank and got on shuttle vehicles on the Seam Zone side. Once passing the fence, there is no barrier to Israel.

Who benefits from the loopholes? One can only assume that allowing the mass crossing of the fence saves manpower (soldiers) the army and significantly increases the entry of builders and other necessary work power - into Israel.

In the northern region, most passers-by are construction workers who work in the city of Harish, but also other professionals who prefer the shortcut that saves time and money, and as one of the passers-by said: "Passing like free people..."