Tura checkpoint: The checkpoint belongs to the army, the garbage - to the soldiers

On our way to Barta’a Checkpoint we saw a maintenance vehicle driving slowly along the security road and a man wearing a fluorescent vest following.  We did not understand what he was doing.   No one was crossing the well – known hole in the fence at the time, but there were a lot of cars waiting in the village on the other side of the fence.

14:50 – We passed Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint.  Only a few people were crossing to the West Bank through the sleeve and the parking lots were not crowded. 

Traffic was flowing as usual on the way to Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint.  We did not see any exceptional presence of the army as we thought we would see during these tense days in the northern part of the West Bank.  An armored army jeep was parked next to the pillbox and traffic was moving through the checkpoint as usual.  There is also a pillbox here and soldiers looked down at us from above.  On our way back we saw that for some reason the gate to Maoz Zvi (Mevo Dotan B.) was open.

We heard on the evening news that there had been an attempt to run soldiers over with a car, which had been thwarted.  The army claimed that this had taken place next to one of the pillboxes in the Dotan valley.

15:20 – We returned to Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint.  A lineup of cars was waiting to be checked.  We did not stay because there was little traffic.   Our trunk was checked and shortly after driving out from the inspection point we saw that they were installing electric pillars on the road.  The checkpoint is being equipped more and more.

15:30 Tura – Shaked Checkpoint

It was amusing to see that the hole in the fence that is less than 100 meters from the checkpoint is still being used by the light of day right in front of the soldiers’ noses.    Two people who had been driven to the checkpoint split up: one of them crossed through the sleeve, the inspection room, a turnstile and another sleeve, while the other stepped over the barbed – wire fence, crossed the dirt road, the security road,  and the electric fence and got into his friend’s car that was waiting for him next to the hole.  Four cars crossed quickly through the checkpoint to the West Bank.