A tour of recently opened agricultural checkpoints
We left with Mustafa to the agricultural checkpoints between Qalqiliya and Tulkarm which had been closed at the outbreak of hostilities, after we heard that the army had decided to gradually open them.
The usual way was by turning off from highway #55 to Azzun and immediately turning right in order to go through the tunnel under the road and from there northward to the Tulkarm road. One would arrive in Jayyus in 10 minutes and from there onwards to Kufr Jammal, Falamiya and the other villages. However, the army has closed the tunnel so the road connecting Qalqiliya, Azzun and the villages south of highway #55 with the villages to the north and with Tulkarm has been lengthened five times over.
We travelled the long and complicated way, along highway #55 to Funduk, then turned left (north) before the main junction by way of the roads in the village we got to Ha’ja. We continued to Kor and westward from there to Sur and south through Kufr Jamal in the direction of Falamiya. This route, which used to be quiet, has turned into the main highway.
We stopped at Suhir’s in Kufr Jammal, and he told us that the situation is difficult, even though they are relatively lucky as they have no settlements nearby. Of course, the army frequently enters the village, but there are no problems. His wife joined us and one of his sons brought coffee. The shelves in his store, which used to be loaded with everything, were almost empty. The older son, a father of 2 children, is arrested. He had been caught working in Israel. During the whole period while we were there, only one client entered to buy a carton of eggs. She asked about the son, tears gathered in his mother’s eyes as she quietly wiped them off.
Suhir was quite upset that we were driving around in a car with Israeli plates and insisted on accompanying us to all three of the checkpoints serving the residents of Falamiya, Kufr Jammal and Jayyus who have to get to their fields which the Fence had cut off from the residents. Meanwhile only the middle one (north Jayyus 935) is open 3 times a day, but very few people (according to him, 10) have received permits to work there.
We travelled first of all to the Falamiya checkpoint (914). The gate has been closed for 10 months, boulders block the way and the fence has been made higher. We returned on our path in order to get to the gate of north Jayyus (935), the only one that has been open for the past week, 3 times a day, but only for a small group of privileged land owners, seemingly those who have a particularly large tract of land; up until the opening of this gate, they had been allowed to use the Zufim checkpoint.
On the way, we passed before an impressive building within a large compound: a horse farm which had been built on an area that was returned after the moving of the fence westward by order of the High Court, by a resident of Kfar Kassem. We brought Suhir back to Kufr Jammal and we returned the long way to highway #55.
After we were stopped for an inspection (opening of the doors and asking how we were doing) at the Eliyahu checkpoint, we were forced to travel more than 10 kilometers in order to get to the Habla checkpoint, since 2 roundabouts which had made possible a U-turn in order to enter the nurseries to the south of the road had been closed off. We got to the Habla checkpoint a little after its opening at 13:00. There were no vehicles or people waiting on our side. The soldiers were busy with preparations; on the Habla side, a few people and vehicles were waiting, mainly a large truck with lumber. Also here we noticed that the fence was built higher than before.
The soldiers were heavily armed and did not allow us to photograph and, after lengthy conversations on the phone, since we insisted that we were allowed to be there and to photograph, they announced that we were not allowed to be there at all and, if they saw us again, they would call the police. They also refused to take care of the passage of the Palestinians until we went away. In this way, another soldier also threatened Mustafa that he had better leave the area.
Perhaps it is necessary to get another permit giving us the right to stand at the checkpoints.
Location Description
Falamiya North (914)
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Falamiya North (914) Opens 3 times a day for about 40 minutes each time. This checkpoint has extremely important for all farmers in the area since the previous, Falamya checkpoint opening routine of continuously open for 12 hours has been discontinued. This took place after the separation fence was moved westward following the High Court of Justice.
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Habla CP (1393)
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.
Ronit Dahan-RamatiApr-25-2025Habla Checkpoint: system of gates
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Jayyus North (935)
See all reports for this placeJayyus West (965)
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Jayyus West (965) The checkpoint was moved due to the relocation of the crossing barrier after the Supreme Court verdict, and so a large agricultural area. was returned to the Jayyus farmers. Now there is an intensive cultivation of this land, widely spread irrigation systems, greenhouses and many kinds of new crops are grown, not only olives that require less cultivation and water irrigation. Updated April 2021
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Kufr Jammal
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Kufr Jammal This village, rising about 200 meters over sea level, is located about 14 kilometers south of Tul Karm town and about 17 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The families living there since the mid-18th century number about 3,000 persons at present. The village has lost thousands of dunams of its northern and western lands due to the construction of the Separation Barrier, leaving the lands themselves behind the barrier. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2011, the barrier was moved to the west and many farmlands were returned to their owners. It is a quiet village, its relations with the nearby settler-colony of Sal’it are favorable, and many of the villagers work in the colony’s industrial plants. Farmers cross the agricultural checkpoint close to this settler-colony in order to tend their fields unhampered. However, there are numerous acts of harassment and disorder taking place when the village farmers cross the other agricultural checkpoints: gates do not open at hours suitable to the farmers’ needs, and for a short period of time only; the Civil Administration usually prevents all kinds of crops except olives; tractors and other farm equipment are forbidden entry; only a single permit is issued per family, and occasionally such permits are confiscated and their re-issue is delayed – the common excuse is usually “security reasons”. How do the villagers make their living? Holders of work permits inside Israel travel at 3 a.m. to Eyal Checkpoint near Qalqiliya town in order to make it on time to their workplace at Sal’it (close to their village) and elsewhere. Owners of vegetable patches who hold permits are allowed to reach their fields beyond the Separation Barrier through the distant Falamiya Checkpoint. Importantly, fields returned to the village show amazing improvement intending, irrigation and farming variety – and instead of the neglected olive tree groves that were accessible only to holders of transit permits through agricultural checkpoints usually closed, farming has now flourished. (updated Jan 2021)
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