Reihan, Sat 14.6.08, Morning

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Dogs, dog trainer

Observers:

Sarit A., Rachel H. (reporting)

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Jun-14-2008

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Morning

Translation: Devorah K.

07:00 - 08:45

Reihan CP

07:00 - Five Transits are waiting in the upper parking lot. As usual we hear dogs barking.

07:05. The gate opens; the 70-80 people crowded together behind it barge in and are turned back roughly.

Why? It is well known that you are supposed to come in five at a time. We are ashamed to hear the discourteous rebukes that humiliate those retreating to the gate - which now 'has to be closed' despite the pressure from outside.

One of the people running the CP comes out to organize things; armed with dark glasses, he raises five fingers and arranges everything from outside the gate. The queue still crowds together at the iron bars. There is no room for those who want to leave via the gate to go through. They have to jump over the blue bars. Luckily they were young and flexible. Said is preparing coffee to sell. By the time the water will boil, the crowd will be gone, and so will we.

07:30 The last person enters, and immediately after him there arrives an additional person to make it through the gate before it closes. So they begin shouting at him: "I didn't tell you you could enter! So why are you entering?"

The man retreats and is allowed to go through but not before he gets another scolding for that same behavior. We turn to wait for those emerging from the terminal; on the road to the CP there are many pedestrians on their way to the terminal.

Five cars are awaiting inspection; four have been being inspected since we arrived. In the upper parking lot, seven Transits are beginning to fill with passengers.

In the terminal only one window is operating; somebody is trying to operate the second one, apparently unsuccessfully.

The turnstile at the entrance suddenly stops turning. Somebody who was on his way out is stuck inside it. Embarrassing. After three or four minutes and many calls for help, the turnstile resumes operation. It will close later on with a woman trying to enter the terminal stuck in it. Maybe something is wrong with the turnstile, or maybe this is simply abuse.

07:55 Many of those we met at the entrance are already outside. But not all of them. The last of those waiting that we encountered this morning near the yellow gate, left at 08:10 - forty minutes after he entered.

08:30 Shaked CP

There is almost no traffic.

08:45 - We offered a lift to a family loaded down with bags, who came through from Tura and wanted to get to Umm-Reihan, and we left.

Location Description

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).