ברטעה-ריחן, טורה-שקד

Rachel Weitzman, Hannah Heller

Turah checkpoint – 15:50

We are told his morning, because of the Holidays closure, only residents of the seamline zone and Turah passed the checkpoint. Residents of Y’abed were allowed to pass only for farming. For all other work they passed today via Barta’a. The few workers and three cars that arrived passed to the W.Bank immediately.

On our way back we stopped at the grocery store on the road. The small group of houses belonging to the local council of Dhar al Maleh has not been connected to the electric grid. Opposite there is a small mosque – built in 1969 – and the people in the grocery tell us that they have tried to draw an electric cable from the generator to light the mosque, but were forced by the Administration to dismantle it.

Opposite the grocery, at the side of the road improvement, we noticed another plot (land that also belongs to Turah) being levelled by heavy machinery. For what purpose?

Barta’ah checkpoint – 16:20

Here one feels the closure. The upper parking lot is not full and there are also not many transport vehicles for workers. Most of the people returning are those who have permits to Barta’ah or farmers’ permits.

There are Barta’ah residents with children returning from Jenin.

Two cars with merchandise come out of checking towards Barta’ah.