Barta`a checkpoint: huge parking lots mar the view

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Ramadan

Observers:

Tami Rituv (photos) and Neta Golan (reporting) Translation: Bracha Ben-Avraham

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Apr-13-2023

Afternoon

Huge parking lots in front of a checkpoint in Barta`a

Photo:

Tami Ritov

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

Dozens of men, women, and children were waiting at the edge of the parking lot. We had never seen this happen before and couldn’t ask what was going on. Eventually a bus arrived and everyone got on. Evidently they were going to Jerusalem to pray at the Al Aksa Mosque because it is Ramadan.

15:30 Yaabed – Dotan Checkpoint

The road to the checkpoint was green and beautiful. The rain that had fallen for the past two days had washed all the dust away. IT’s a pity it cannot wash away the filth of the occupation. The checkpoint appeared to be unmanned and there was not even a military unit flag flying. There was a little traffic coming from Jenin. People were coming home from work early because of Ramadan.

15:45 Barta’a – Reihan Checkpoint

The ever-expanding parking lots were not full. The construction going on is marring the view. Perhaps they are preparing for more years of occupation and the increased amount of Palestinian cars. 0013 The kiosk is closed because of Ramadan 0012 and the peanut vendor and youths selling coffee are also absent. One person returning from work in Barta’a told us that he lives in Hebron. He has a long way to go before he gets home.

16:10 - On our way back to the seamline zone side we noticed that the line at the vehicle checkpoint was extremely long 0011. When we asked the woman inspecting vehicles why there was such a long line she answered with the obvious: “It’s crowded.”

16:20 – Tura – Shaked Checkpoint – It was quiet. A young man was waiting under the shed. A few cars were going towards the seamline zone.

16:30 – We drove home and there were not any traffic jams of vehicles carrying workers home and no traffic in Wadi Eron on the Israel Route. It’s Ramadan.

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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)