Brta`a checkpoint: "Our mall"

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Observers: 
Ruti T. and Rachel W. (Reporter and Photographer) Marcia L., Translation
Oct-29-2019
|
Afternoon

15:00 – Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint

We arrived before the rush hour so we decided to continue to Harish and Ya’bed Checkpoints without stopping at Barta’a Checkpoiont.  We would stop there on the way back.

Hermesh Checkpoint

There are no soldiers in the guard tower and the traffic flows without interruption. Large trucks loaded with construction material cross at Harmish and continue in the direction of Ya’bed.

Ya’bed Checkpoint

Soldiers in the guard tower yell something at us, but we couldn’t understand what or why they were yelling. A group of officers come down from the tower, they enter an army vehicle and travel away from there.

Smiling Palestinians crossing the checkpoint waive hello to us.

We see a new electrical box that obviously accounts for the new lighting that we recognized on the road.

16:00 – Barta’a Checkpoint

A stream of workers and cars leaving from the Palestinian side is very large. This appears to be the peak hour.  The coffee sellers are also busy working.

At the turnstile exit, they set up a small building, where, in only a few days, they will open a kiosk.  The Locals call it “our mall” in ridicule.  Perhaps the request for a shed for  those who pass through the checkpoint will also be carried out. 

16:30 – Tura Checkpoint

Quiet as usual and dirty as usual at this checkpoint.  A few women cross, try to speak with us, and again we feel the need to know and study Arabic.  A man who crosses to the Palestinian side tells us the fact that every morning that they delay in opening the checkpoint, disrupts their day.  To us it looks like another purposeful impediment.