“Who will worry about us?” (Soldier)

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Updates during Corona

Observers:

Rachel Weizman and Ruthi Tuval (reporting) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Apr-11-2021

Afternoon

Ya`abed Dotan checkpoint

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

A colorful sign invites to march on Independence Day for the renewal of the Sha-Nur settlement (evacuated from its residents in the disengagement plan in August 2006)

The Ya`abed-Dotan checkpoint

Photo:

Ruti Tuval

Magnificent ugliness for the glory of the State of Israel on it`s holiday

Tura Checkpoint

15:10 – We drove past Barta’a Checkpoint. There were no cars parked by the sides of the road today. Are the police enforcing the parking laws that exist in Israel?

On our way to Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint we stopped at the well – kept grocery store in Emricha to see whether F., the owner, knew how to pronounce the name of the village, which is called Emricha. We left with dates, nuts, and very spicy olives that F., the gentle owner had made.

15:30 – Yaabed Dotan Checkpoint

Traffic was moving without any delay and the soldiers were observing us from the pillbox. We noticed a change in the scenery. Since last week the memorial monument commemorating Moshe Tamam, a soldier who vanished from the Beit Leed Junction whose body was discovered near Mevo Dotan in August of 1984 was renovated. His name was mentioned recently after his murderer was freed from prison.

Another addition to the scenery was a colorful poster calling for people to participate in a march on Independence Day to renew the settlement of Sa- Nur. The settlement was evacuated and demolished during Arik Sharon’s disengagement plan but remained under Israeli jurisdiction. Evidently the army is apathetic towards activities that are taking place right under their noses.

A cold wind forced us back into our car.

Reihan – Barta’a Checkpoint, Seamline Zone Side

All the parking lots were completely filled and there were cars parked on the sides of the road. The parking lot for trucks and commercial vehicles was also full. There were more than ten trucks on their way to the inspection facility. Large groups of workers were beginning to arrive and to hurry down the sleeve info-icon , which has been extended to twice its length and reach three turnstiles leading to the West Bank.

16:40: Tura – Shaked Checkpoint

Today people were preparing for Ramadan and there was more traffic than usual, and the soldiers were more alert. Do they understand the implications of their being here where they control people who are not Israeli citizens: i.e. occupation. They reminded us about Esther Horgan from the nearby settlement of Tal Menasheh who was murdered in the Reihan Forest as an example of the important work they are doing without understanding the contradiction of what they are saying. A soldier asked: “You worry about the Palestinians, but who will worry about us?” We asked them whether the ladies who bring soldiers cakes no longer saw to their needs. Besides, you are armed from head to foot and the army sees to all your needs. Why should anyone worry about you?” Evidently he spends all of his pay on food other than what the army provides. We tried to encourage him with our grandmotherly instincts….

Why do we take the trouble to report in Corona times as well?

Because democracy’s watchdogs have fallen asleep on their own watch, so Israeli citizens have no idea what is actually happening in the Occupied Territories, especially now.

Day and night, Israeli soldiers (as the State’s emissaries) help extreme settler-colonists take the law into their own hands, unhampered. They do not stop even in days of a raging pandemic and do not hesitate to harm Palestinians – their bodies, property, and sources of livelihood.

Unceasing harassment of the weakened Palestinian population inflicts psychological harm as well. All – from babies through and including the elderly and the ill – are open prey to Jewish violence and terrorism which the settler-colonists are only too eager to exert.

We of MachsomWatch will not cease to report, certainly not now during these Corona times and under the threat of annexation, about the settlers’ increased rampages, those who hurry to set facts on the ground helped by the Israeli army.

Israel rules the West Bank, and by force of the Geneva Convention, article no. 27, it is committed to enforcing law and order there. The inhabitants of these Occupied Territories have the legal right “to decent treatment of their body and dignity, and should be especially protected against any act of violence”.

Ironically, this is not at all upheld.

Nor shall we cooperate with the commonplace ignoring of the Palestinian people’s suffering, and with the Israeli public’s indifference to it. We shall continue to follow up closely and report the goings-on in the West Bank, in its villages and encampments.

No one should be able to say ‘We knew nothing, we heard nothing’

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)