Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Hizma, Thu 8.1.09, Morning
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07:00 Wadi Nar
Lively traffic, flowing. From time to time the line in the direction of Bethlehem lengthens as far as the bend in the road. Sample checks of documents and cargo are performed. Random delays, mostly short.
The road going east is blocked with a metal barrier embedded in a concrete block. A narrow opening of roughly 50 centimetres between two concrete blocks remains for pedestrian crossing. Since residents of the homes east of the checkpoint are now prevented from using vehicles, how are preganant women or the handicapped supposed to cross?
Later, two young women lifted the barrier with a smile of triumph, but a soldier arrived immediately to close it again.
Towards 7:30 the checkpoint is almost empty.
At 7:40 the traffic jam from the Az-Zayyem checkpoint stretches as far as the entrance to Ma'aleh Adomim.
We drove in the direction of the Dead Sea. There was no checkpoint after the turn north to the Bik'aa road
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08:10 Jericho checkpoint – south
Every vehicle leaving Jericho is checked: documents, interrogation, cargo. Crossing is fast and the checkpoint works efficiently.
The DCO is open. We passed through the first turnstile along with 2 Palestinians. We reached the magnometer which is scrutinised from the other side of a reinforced glass partition. They wondered what we were doing on "the Palestinian side", and whether we were not afraid. Our passage was intercepted and we were compelled to leave.
On the way back we passed through Hizme. There were long traffic jams from all directions.
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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.
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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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Hizma
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Hizma
A checkpoint at the north-eastern entrance to the Jerusalem area which was annexed in 1967, at Pisgat Zeev. The passage is allowed to bearers of blue IDs only. Open 24 hours a day.
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