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Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Mon 31.12.07, Morning

Place: Abu Dis / Lazarus gate (formerly The Wicket) Container (Wadi Nar)
Observers: Rina R. Maya B.( reporting)
Dec-31-2007
| Morning
.
06:30  we decide to look for alternative   places where BP and  Police   are checking  Palestinians who come to work in Jerusalem.  The  largest  group is usually at the junction of   Route No. 1,  Prophet  st.  and  the  parking lot of Nablus road.  We park the car and walk around, talking to  some of the workers  and asking them how long it took them to get to the point where they are being picked up by the employers  /contractors. 

Since every  institution  in Jerusalem  employs Palestinian  workers,  and not all of them live in Jerusalem,  this requires  a lot of workers,  who  all come in  early in the morning,  and for the most part  seem to have a document or a blue ID  that makes it possible.   In  the entire area we met two BPs  and two  blue police  cars with a few policemen,  who are mostly interested in traffic laws.

 

At 07:30  we drive to   Wadi Naar,  where there are  a few   Yellow  mini-buses being checked.  Thecheck is rapid  and no one seems perturbed by it any more.  Everyone seems resigned  to this procedure.  Most cars are not stopped at all.

 

A tractor   who  trying to get on the  road we came on , without  asking  "permission" from the sodiers, is being called back,  and told to wait , as a means of teaching him  the rules of the game  around here.  When we try to help, we are told  that he will have to wait,  till the soldiers decide he can pass.  The area  is  off limits for him even though  he claims he has been ploughing there for the last few days.  He appologizes to the soldiers and we hope will be let through if we move away.

  • Abu Dis / Lazarus gate (formerly The Wicket)

    See all reports for this place

    •  

      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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