Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Sheikh Saed, Mon 7.12.09, Afternoon
2:00-4:30 PM
On the way down via Jebel Mukabr slight rain started and the drizzle caused the road to be extremely slippery. We saw many children near the schools and noted a slipping/sliding car having great trouble to mount the road. Even pedestrians were slipping.
We were allowed to enter through the turnstiles after permission was obtained by telephone.
A yellow school bus was just dropping some children on top of the CP, they go to school in Sawachreh and live in Jebel Mukabr they said.
A little later the bus, which had made a tour, returned and we verified with the driver who said that the school in Sawachre was better than that in Jebel Mukabr. The driver himself lives in Sheikh Saed and said that about twenty children are bussed daily from the CP to Sawahre via the dangerous road. He lives in sheikh Saed and told us before he accelerated that this CP is REALLY shitty (“khara”) – his words!
We saw some more cars struggling with the steep slope towards Jebel Mukabr and were glad we could take the Road of the Americas.
We entered with the car as far as we could into the road leading to the Pishpash where major infrastructure is being carried out to make it a real passage for the nursery school kids, with street lights, etc. The last bit of the wall at this stretch is almost completed.
We spotted two civilian guards who were both pleased that they had work watching over the workers and the equipment and thought all this construction was of major importance to our security.
As we approached Wadi Nar we saw a long line of cars from the opposite direction coming from Abu Dis. At the same time a transit with an Israeli driver dropped off a load of workers coming from the direction of Kedar. We soon found out what all this was about. The road turning east towards the garbage dump, the Jahalin encampment and El Azzariya was closed off. Large orange signposts in three languages ( Hebrew and English with spelling mistakes) proclaimed that the road was closed and pointed in the direction of a detour via the winding road towards Abu Dis.
The road is being renovated and works will take until May 26th. During half a year in the muddy season the Palestinian drivers will have to struggle with the narrow congested road, while the super highway serving a few hundred people from Qedar remains empty and serves Jews only.
A few more loads of workers approached the junction from the way we came, obviously transported by their employers. They all waited near the grocery store for an empty cab to take them home in the direction of Bethlehem.
Once in a while a car was checked randomly, but the documents were returned within a few minutes. The queue kept moving more or less, albeit very slowly, due to the condition of the road and the bumps near and in the CP. No soldier came to disturb our work.
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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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.
Avital CFeb-27-2026Jerusalem, Damascus Gate: Crowd rushing to prayer
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