An unpleasant surprise at the Hermesh checkpoint

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Breach in the separation fence

Separation fence

Observers:

Neta Golan (Reporting, Tami Rituv (Photos) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Feb-10-2022

Morning

Hermesh checkpoint: Suddenly manned by soldiers

Photo:

Tami Ritov

Barta'a checkpoint: The kiosk in the parking lot is growing and developing

Photo:

Tami Ritov

The crossing from Highway 611 to Luxor in the West Bank continued uninterrupted

Photo:

Tami Ritov

14:50 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint

There was very little traffic in either direction. A car dropped a person off at the entrance to the checkpoint and another at the lone house near the checkpoint that is separated from the village of Tura by the separation barrier. A happy group of women returned to the seamline zone and all crowded into a small car. We drove past Barta’a Checkpoint on our way to Yaabed Dotan. And noticed that there were no trucks in the parking lot and that all the parking lots on the Palestinian side along Route 596, perhaps because of the stormy weather or because people were using the holes in the fence.

15:10 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint

Traffic was moving without delay in both directions.

15:30 – Hermesh Checkpoint

We don’t always visit this checkpoint since Route 585 that used to be blocked by a locked gate until the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, came to visit during Barak Obama’s first term as president. Traffic in the direction of Kafin, Baka’a El Sharkiya, and on to Tulkarem and back moves without being stopped. There is a red sign warning against entering Area A, but there was no checkpoint and there were no soldiers. This time we decided to drive there. To tell the truth, we were hoping to see the anemones in flower. Se only saw a few, but were surprised to see a soldier was stationed on the concrete block with his weapon drawn (092045). An armored car was parked on the other side of the road. (0007). Soldiers were stopping cars that were driving towards Barta’a Checkpoint or to Yaabed or Jenin. We attempted unsuccessfully to talk to the soldier on the concrete block. He hadn’t heard of Machsom Watch and didn’t want to listen. He was also not willing to tell us what was going on.

15:50 – Barta’a Reihan Checkpoint Palestinian Side

We entered the large parking lot in the pouring rain. There were three boys selling coffee and a few older drivers greeted us. The kiosk has grown and there is an area in front that is protected from the rain by plastic sheeting and windows. A man selling strawberries at NIS 5 for a box had situated himself there. (0006). The strawberries were from Gaza, but the booth was made of cartons from an Israeli fruit grower “B’reshit Galil Golan (0005).

16:10 – Route 611

Many cars were parked beneath the village of Luxor and a few transport vehicles were dropping workers off on the side of the road. Workers were hurrying in the rain towards the hole in the fence to get to their cars (0004). There were many muddy plastic bags along the road, evidence of many people going there throughout the day. (0003). The white houses of the city of Harish, where most of these people work in construction, overlook the scene.

We left at 16:30. The sky looked amazing as it changed colors from blue, white, and gray hung above all the ugliness.

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)