Northern checkpoints: The pressure to renew work permits in Israel is growing

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Tags:

Transfer Permits to Israel

Observers:

The North, 24.05.2011 Rachel W. and Ruthi T. (Reporter) Marcia L., Translation 06:30 – 08:30 06:30 - We passed Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint. The parking lot was already completely full (except for places that were saved for merchants in Barta’a). From

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May-24-2022

Morning

Anin Checkpoint: Garbage from Anin to the seam zone area

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Teachers from the West Bank move to Dahar al-Malech

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

06:30 – 08:30

06:30 - We passed Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint. The parking lot was already completely full (except for places that were saved for merchants in Barta’a). From then on, our entire shift was noted by increased army activity. Various and strange army vehicles filled the roads. When we asked Palestinians what was going on, they told us, apathetically, that this was just an exercise. Opposite the junction at the settlement of Shaked, military vehicles were stationed, soldiers brushed their teeth, and one of the soldiers prayed Shacharit, the morning service.

07:40 – About ten teachers passed through Tura-Shaked Checkpoint, most of them gathered at the school in Umm-Reihan. Two of the teachers walked to the school in Daher al Malec. A larger tanker maneuvered with difficulty, inside the curvy checkpoint. When we left, the soldiers at the junction had already eaten breakfast. At the end of the day, we were told that the security forces had captured/arrested “an officer of the Palestinian Preventive Security Forces.”

A resident of Tura told us that every night, a drone rattles over their homes and keeps them from sleeping.

Because it is impossible to cross via the breaches in the fence after they were closed, there are renewed requests for permits to work in Israel, which are handled by the General Security Services (GSS).

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).