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Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Wed 4.2.09, Afternoon

Place: Abu Dis / Lazarus gate (formerly The Wicket) Container (Wadi Nar)
Observers: Chana G., Rina H., Rahel W. (reporting)
Feb-04-2009
| Afternoon

.
Wadi Nar

 
We arrived at Wadi Nar at about 1:45. p.m. It was rather quiet.  There were some 9 security personnel — reservists and border police — doing the checking and almost all vehicles went through without delay.  As in previous shifts, we noticed that new model cars were more likely to be stopped.  In several cases, stringent checks were carried out with the security personnel more concerned about proper registration and ownership than about security concerns.

 
When we arrived, there were two Ecumenical observers there.  They reported no unusual events.

 
As the afternoon went on, there were more and more vehicles going through in both directions, but there was minimal checking and everything moved smoothly.

 
One little Kafkaesque note that was present last week as well.  On the road leading up to the kiosk from Abu Dis, which in the past was one way away from the checkpoint, and from which cars that might have emerged were severely reprimanded and sent back, there is now a large triple headed arrow painted in the road which points left, right, and center.  However, directly in front of the elaborate arrow is a wall of barbed wire making passage impossible.  A metaphor for the whole state of events???

  • 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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