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Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Tue 28.7.09, Afternoon

Place: Abu Dis / Lazarus gate (formerly The Wicket) Container (Wadi Nar)
Tags: Detainees
Observers: Julia W., Rahel W. (reporting)
Jul-28-2009
| Afternoon
There was a police van stopping people entering Azariah, but we had managed to enter just minutes before it arrived.?There was no check of those exiting.

Wadi Nar

Traffic in both directions was moving very quickly at Wadi Nar.

When we arrived, there were some young men waiting around and one van  detained. We sat near the checking area (a military policeman came over and told us that we were not supposed to be there, but when we said that it was terribly hot outside and we got some protection from the heat there, he just walked away and returned to his booth).

One of the detainees spoke with us in English. He said that he was waiting for two hours to get his i.d. back but we have no way of knowing if this was accurate

When we arrived (at around 3:00 p.m.) there was just one van waiting. They said that there had been four transits stopped a while back and they were unlucky enough to be on one of them. They said that they were students who were from Hebron and Bethlehem and they were stopped every day, but then again, we have no way of knowing if they were exaggerating.

During our shift, no other vehicles in either direction were stopped, including those full of workers and young people. They might have been the unlucky victims of a random check.


 

Two other young brothers who are from Jenin but who are studying in Abu Dis were stopped. They said that they were en route to a wedding in Bethlehem. from the time we arrived until all were released was approximately 40 minutes.

 

On our way back, we again took note of the enormous building going on at Qedar. Yet more access roads and restraining walls are being prepared for even more homes.  At any rate the building is progressing, the new areas will soon reach the road approaching the outpost of Qedar South.

  • Abu Dis / Lazarus gate (formerly The Wicket)

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    •  

      Abu Dis / Lazarus Checkpoint/Gate (east of the former “wicket”)

      Construction of the wall in the Abu Dis area blocked all the gaps that allowed people to cross from al-Ezariya to the neighbourhoods of Abu Dis and Ras al 'Amud that are located within Jerusalem’s municipal boundary. The Lazarus checkpoint is a gate in the wall adjacent to the Lazarus Monastery. Until 2011 it had a door for pilgrims to al-Ezariya and for the monastery’s kindergarten pupils from al-Ezariya. The crossing is currently closed, but the site has infrastructure for conducting inspections.

  • Container (Wadi Nar)

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    •  Wadi Nar Checkpoint ("Container", "The Kiosk") - a barrier for vehicles in Area B that is regularly manned - east of Abu Dis between Sawahra A Sharqiya and Bethlehem and its daughters. Controls Palestinian movement between the north and south West-Bank. Includes driving routes, access roads, spikes, traffic lights and signs. There is no pedestrian crossing. Open 24 hours a day with random checks enhanced on security alerts. The checkpoint is in Palestinian territory, allowing for separation between the north and the south Palestinian areas when necessary.

      In 2015, the leading road from Azaria to Bethlehem was renovated, as well as the steep and narrow ascent to the Wadi Nar checkpoint, which was dangerously travelled in both directions! The temporary checkpoint was renovated and expanded, and pedestrian traffic was banned. From 2016, traffic travelling from the south bank to Azaria was directed to a one-way road near the Southern Keydar Jewish settlement.

      Machsomwatch shifts visit this far-fetched checkpoint only occasionally.

      (updated to July 2019)

       

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