Tura checkpoint: The lonely house is no longer lonely

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Observers: 
Neta Golan, Shuli Bar (report, photos) Ruti, a new volunteer
Dec-15-2021
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Afternoon

14:30 We drove to Amriha to deliver a bundle of clothes, and continued to Yabed-Dotan Checkpoint. A lieutenant and a private (nice ones) came down from the watchtower to check who we were, made do with our short explanation, and went back to their post. Vehicular traffic at the checkpoint was steady, no delays. Usually, the soldiers stay in the watchtower and do not come in contact with the Palestinians.

15:30 At Anin Checkpoint (agricultural checkpoint) there was no one. We asked Mahmoud, the fellow with the tractor, that almost only for him the soldiers come to open the gate (he cannot cross through the breach in the fence with his tractor). Apparently, he did not go to work this morning because of the rain. In the DCO they told us that no one went over to the seam zone this morning so they will not come to open the gate in the afternoon. Clearly pedestrians went in and out of the seam zone all day through the breach.

16:00 Toura-Shaked Checkpoint, and a surprise

At the Toura checkpoint nothing ever happens, almost. So we went over to the lone house nearby and found out that the brothers are building a fancy villa right next door. The lone house belongs to a Toura family who did not agree to abandon its land, adjacent to Shaked settler-colony that was built there arbitrarily. The price of their insistence to live there completely isolated, is that they were detached from their village by the Separation Fence, and had to cross the checkpoint every time they came and went. Now good times are here. They have just been paved a private track to the house (we heard it was the PA that financed the work), and were allowed (yes or no) to build another house on their land (a most rare permit). What else goes on there that we know nothing about?