Barta`a checkpoint: Suspicious bottles of oil were found to be kosher

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Problems at agricultural checkpoints

Walls and Blockades

Observers:

Chen T. (photographer), Hagar M.D., Neta G. (Reporter) Marcia L., Translation

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May-3-2023

Afternoon

Aanin checkpoint: The closing wall is coming

Photo:

חן צור

Tura checkpoint: waiting in the shed

15:00 – Anin, Agricultural Checkpoint

A huge concrete wall is being built before our eyes. Two soldiers from the artillery brigade (fence guards) approach us. They don’t understand our aversion to the wall. “The wall will prevent those without a permit from crossing over.” People are already waiting for the checkpoint to open. We’re not, and request our acquaintance, M., to call us. There is no phone signal. Apparently, it opened on time.

15:30 – Tura-Shaked Checkpoint

An elderly couple waits in the shed. Palestinian residents of Tura are traveling to make a sympathy call to mourners in Tur’an. Two women leave the checkpoint and wait for a car that brought them. The car passed the inspection and picks them up.

A young couple from Umm Reihan (a Palestinian village in the Seamline Zone) waits for a ride. They are returning from shopping in Jenin with a lot of bags. It is cheaper there than in their village. A single car passes to the West Bank.

We continue on our way and pass Barta’a Checkpoint. Many workers go down the sleeve info-icon (the covered, enclosed passage to the terminal) on their way home.

16:00 – Ya’bed-Dotan Checkpoint

The checkpoint is not staffed. A lot of traffic flows from the east in the direction of Jenin. Two soldiers wearing helmets sit in an open army vehicle. They warn us not to cross the red sign, the warning sign about entering Area A.

We continue in the direction of the settlement of Harmish and stop next to the entrance. The checkpoint that was set up years ago is abandoned. Soldiers also continue there, stop, and ask what we are looking for. They never heard of Machsom Watch (we’ve been around for 22 years).

16:30 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint, Palestinian Side

We gave up on the entrance to the crowded parking lot and continued to the Seamline Zone. We had olive oil in the baggage of our car that we bought from farmers in Anin. The security guard is suspicious and she directs us to the inspection area. The bottles of olive oil pass the transparency inspection successfully, but the large can of oil requires some kind of additional inspection by opening the cap and checking the liquid. We were released on our way and gave up on going down the sleeve on the Seamline Zone side of the checkpoint.

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).

Ya’abad-Dotan

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This checkpoint is located on road 585, at the crossroads of Mevo Dotan settler-colony / Jenin/ Ya’abad. It has an army watchtower (‘pillbox’ post) and concrete blocs that slow down vehicular traffic. It was erected when Barta’a Checkpoint, lying to the west on the Separation Fence, was privatized and its operation was passed over to civilian security personnel. Since December 2009 this checkpoint enables flow of Palestinian vehicular traffic towards the Barta’a Checkpoint. Seldom is it manned by soldiers sitting in the watchtower, who conduct random inspections of vehicles and passengers. (february 2020)