Translation: Bracha B.A.

Machsom Shaked – 15:00

The checkpoint is quiet. A car coming from the West Bank enters the seamline zone through the avenue of concrete barriers and passes through in 2 minutes. Workers on a tractor and trailer and a herd of goats return to the West bank.

Reihan Checkpoint 15:35
The lower parking lot is filled with cars. Three passenger vehicles arrive and drive towards the West Bank. Vans with workers and families arrive and cross to the seamline zone.

16:00 – We walked down the sleeve info-icon

. There are 4 detainees info-icon

waiting to be taken care of in the terminal. Workers from Beit Yitzhak arrive. They have entered Israel through Tibeh checkpoint in the morning and tell us that things were especially crowded and difficult in the morning "as they always are on Sundays". Workers who came through Jalameh in the morning tell us that the situation there was also difficult as it often is on Sundays, mainly because only one inspection window was open. Once again we hear about people's agricultural permits being cancelled.

16:20 – Only one window is open and people are crossing through in both directions but it is not crowded. A woman with a child on her way to the seamline zone is detained because of a misunderstanding regarding the boy's name, and the entire checkpoint is held up while they clarify the matter. There are already about 40 people crowded outside the turnstile and another 10 people are waiting inside the terminal.

16:30 – One of the detainees is being taken care of. The turnstile is still not open and workers continue to arrive.

16:40 A second window opens and workers enter the terminal. Miraculously, we see that it's possible to do things another way!

Inside, next to the turnstile, a guard from the checkpoint staff lets about 30 people in and directs them to various inspection windows. The turnstile remains free, allowing people returning from the West Bank to pass through.

One of the people waiting who is surprised as we are suggests that we come when it is crowded so that we can witness the harassment.

17:00 The quiet and quick passage continues. There are still two detainees.

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, Sun 7.2.10, Afternoon

Translation: Bracha B.A. Machsom Shaked – 15:00

The locked gate at the Anin checkpoint

Translation: Bracha B.A.

Machsom Shaked – 15:00