Translation: Bracha B.A.

Shaked-Tura Checkpoint
The checkpoint is isolated and it’s terribly hot. 5 children are waiting under the shed for their father to return from Jenin. They have brought a small wagon to help him bring groceries.

Reihan Barta’a 16:30

Workers are returning from work and it is crowded at the entrance to the Reihan checkpoint. They claim that no one has gone in for the last ten minutes. There is a delay at the entrance because people are coming out through the same turnstile (we have already spoken of this several times). We called for them to open another inspection window, which they did, but there are clerks there who are doing nothing.

16:45 Finally people are beginning to go in at a rate of ten people every five minutes, but the line is still growing longer.

We thought that if they were more efficient at the entrance and exit as they were when two workers hoeing weeks at the sides of the sleeve info-icon

, workers would get home more quickly and not have to stand in the hot sun. Workers returning from Israel tell us that getting through in the morning at Tibeh is better because the members of Machsom Watch are there early and they feel this helps. There are a lot of cars waiting in the lower parking lot and it slowly empties out.

We went back up to the upper entrance to the terminal and found 35 people outside.

17:00 Sharon, the checkpoint supervisor, responds to our phone call that we made an hour ago. He repeats his usual claim that he doe not have to let anyone enter who did not go out through Reihan Checkpoint in the morning.

17:40 There is still a line at the entrance, and the roof does not provide shade from the sun to the west.

From 16:00 to 18:00 there are on average 30 people waiting in line.

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).

Reihan, Shaked, Mon 13.7.09, Afternoon

Translation: Bracha B.A.

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint