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Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Sheikh Saed, Thu 15.11.07, Afternoon

Tags: Children
Observers: Netanya G., Daphna S. (reporting)
Nov-15-2007
| Afternoon

Sheikh Saed.  A tractor and workers are building the checkpoint. There are already three carousels. The passage is very narrow and uncomfortable.


We counted at least four guards and three soldiers. The soldiers' behavior is aggressive towards those going through. They check every bag and parcel of young and old.
They send back a 70- year old woman who came to visit her daughter in an enclave outside the checkpoint. A crippled girl. It is a family that lives near the checkpoint and there is a gate in the fence that enables them to enter and exit in order to take the girl.

A woman with four children, a baby, a stroller, finds it difficult to go through the labyrinth the soldiers have built. We ask them to help get the stroller through. The stroller goes through and the rest are climbing. A child, about 7 years old, with a package of covers bound together with a rope is ordered to put them on the dirty floor and open the bundle.
People with blue IDs are checked aggressively too.
We were told that whoever has a blue ID with a Sheikh Saed or Jabel Mukaber address can come and go…

Abu Dis is deserted here.


Zeitim passage
no traffic going through neither workers, nor school children.

The container  The traffic flows. They check very few cars. The workers go through the checkpoint quickly.
  • 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)

       

  • Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal)

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    • A large checkpoint/crossing to the area of a-Tur, Abu Dis and the Old City; only for pedestrians. Located on Jerusalem’s municipal boundary.

      One of the major crossings in Jerusalem’s central sector. It is located on the separation fence between the northern portion of the al-Ezariya neighborhood and the neighborhood of a-Tur and the rest of East Jerusalem. It is manned by Border Police soldiers and private security companies and operates 24 hours a day. Palestinians are forbidden to go through, other than permanent residents of East Jerusalem (holders of blue ID cards) and holders of work and commercial permits who are allowed through only on foot.

  • Sheikh Sa'ed

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    • A checkpoint limited to pedestrians, located on Jerusalem’s municipal boundary.

      The checkpoint sits on the separation fence at the entrance to Sheikh Sa’ad, dividing it from its neighbourhood of Jabel Mukkabar. It’s manned by Border Police soldiers and private security companies and operates 24 hours a day. Palestinians are forbidden to go through, other than residents of Jabel Mukkabar or Sheikh Sa'ad who have permits. Both groups are permitted through only on foot. Residents of East Jerusalem who don’t live in Jabel Mukkabar are also allowed to cross to Sheikh Sa’ad, but not in the opposite direction; they must return through the Sawahira ash Sharqiya checkpoint.

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