The northern chekpoints: rain clouds over the occupation

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Crowding

Olive Harvest

Seam Zone

Observers:

Marina banai and Ruthi Tuval Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Nov-8-2022

Afternoon

Ya`abad Dotan checkpoint: traffic flows

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

14:20 – Tura Shaked Checkpoint

We stood in the parking lot looking over the center of the checkpoint. Two soldiers from the Taoz Brigade of the military police came up to us to announce that it was forbidden for us to take pictures here. We told them about ourselves and asked about the litter surrounding the checkpoint. They said that it was not their issue, but had to be dealt with by the regional council. They were, in fact, concerned about the environment. The problem is that it is not clear which regional council is in charge here, We received the usual answer about their job – “We’re ensuring security here just like the police ensure security at Ben Gurion Airport.”

15:50 Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side

A., a well-known acquaintance, came up to us and explained that crossing in the morning has been very difficult since daylight savings time ended (end of October). It is very crowded. He arrives at 05:00 AM when it is still dark and returns home at 6:15 in the evening. Workers wearing black uniforms with fluorescent stripes were returning home from their work paving roads in Tel Aviv. They cross here at 07:15 when crossing takes place quickly.

A man spoke to us who wife and children live in East Barta’a in the seamline zone, while he lives there as well as in the occupied territories. He has not been allowed to return home to Barta’a for a week. Another person told us about a friend who received a traffic report near the checkpoint and had not been permitted to cross since then. We gave them card with the contact information for Sylvia’s team who helps people who have been prevented from crossing. We have been told that the team is extremely busy with requests and that people should be encouraged to go to the Palestinian District Coordination and Liaison Office first or to use the phone app to find out why they have been denied entry.

15:40 Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint

Traffic was moving. The roof of the watchtower has been reinforced with an additional layer of sandbags.

We met our friend Anwar, who insisted on giving us bottles of olive oil for all our friends who helped him with the olive harvest near the settlement of Maoz Zvi. As we reported, settlers harassed him (to say the least) and even banished him from his olive grove, claiming that he could not harvest there because it was too close to the settlement.

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)