Barta'a checkpoint seems like a border crossing, but it is not

Place:

Barta'a-Reihan

Tura-Shaked

Ya'bed-Dotan

Tags:

Northern checkpoints

Observers:

Marina Banai and Ruthi Tuval (Reporting)Translation: Bracha Ben - Avraham

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Jun-1-2021

Afternoon

North 01.06.2021 Afternoon

15:00-16:30

We passed Reihan- Barta’a Checkpoint. The parking lot on the Palestinian side (area C) was full and many workers were returning from work.

Yaabed-Dotan Checkpoint – Traffic was moving through the checkpoint without delay and soldiers were watching from the pillbox above. We met our old acquaintance S. the Bedouin, which is how he calls himself. He drives passengers from Barta’a Checkpoint to Jenin. S. is the father of 21 children and invited us to visit his home in Emricha. He lives with his huge family in a complex of crude buildings and inner courtyards that contain all kinds of junk. He uses the area to raise pigeons, chickens, ducks, and rabbits and sells the chicks. When we got into the car children and women came up to us asking “Saadna, saadna” (help us, help us). One of the girls is about to undergo eye surgery in Sheba Hospital. We gave them contact information for the “Road to Wellness” organizations that arranges travel to hospitals in Israel for Palestinians. For years S. has only been asking for a television set.

We passed Barta’a-Reihan Checkpoint again where traffic was moving like at a border crossing despite the fact that the legitimate border between Israel and Palestine is many kilometers away.

Everything is as usual at Tura-Shaked Checkpoint – quiet and dirty. On our way back we stopped to visit the nice couple from Izbat a-Radiya* who are still waiting for the large battery that is supposed to arrive from Dubai that will operate the solar panels on their roof that was purchased for them. Meanwhile a small battery operates several smaller panels several hours each day and they still use a generator for electricity.

*Izbat a-Radiya is an “unrecognized settlement” that is not connected to the electric grid, but appears on Google Art.

Amriha: The Bedouin S. and his Pigeons

Photo:

Marina Banai

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)