‘Anabta, Ar-Ras, Azzun, Jubara (Kafriat), Qalqiliya, Mon 31.12.07, Morning
Ras Atiya
07:15 – This is a village whose access road branches off from the road to Alfe Menashe. The village is surrounded by a fence and the way out of it is through a gate that is supposed to open at 06:30. (At all the times we were there, the Border Police soldiers assigned to be there didn't open the gate on time.) The village has another exit connected to Habla and the tunnel that connects Habla and Qalqiliya, but the village residents are allowed to go out only through this gate and if they are late on their way back, they have to make a very big and expensive detour.
Ras Atiya is in the territory of the Palestinian Authority but the two "sibling" villages they are closely connected with – common schools and close family relationship – are in the Alfe Menashe enclave, inside the fence that connects them to Israel. The children who every morning get to school in the village are checked by the soldiers (not on the magnometer) and the teachers who enter have to show documents. Although it is usually done in a quiet and matter-of-fact atmosphere, we have to wonder what effect years of passing checkpoints and being forced to have their bags checked just to go to school leave on these children and many others. Let me remind you that these checks are on entering the territories of the Palestinian Authority…
All the cars and the workers that leave the village are also checked very thoroughly: feet through the magnometer and random unloading of boxes and bags from the pick-up trucks that carry a lot of vegetables. The schoolchildren bus that leaves the village to school in the neighbouring village is also thoroughly checked. But here, because of the annexation of the enclave to Israel and the possibility, as a result, to enter Israel without passing another checkpoint, the illogic of the checkpoint laws is evident.
Eliyahu Passage
07:55 – Workers are waiting to pass to Israel and there is also a short line of cars that wish to enter.
Qalqiliya
08:00 – Seven cars, most of which are cabs, are at the entrance to the city. At the exit, the end of the line cannot be seen. One cab is checked by a woman dog trainer and her dog, which stops the line because they are not sent to stand aside. Most of the cabs pass without inspection, but randomly they stop a cab and write down the ID card number (unique for Qalqiliya…). There are long chatting breaks between one hand gesture and another, which contributes to the length of the line.
Azzun
08:35 – The entry from road 55 is open both for cars and pedestrians.
Anabta
10:05 – No line at the entrance and cars, both Palestinian and Israeli, get in without inspection. On the way out, there is a line of 17 cars that pass within 8 minutes. All the time the traffic is streaming.
Jubara
10:45 – The passage is free without any problems.
The Flowers Gate
10:50 – Two "illegals" [in Israel without a residence permit] are waiting nearby for permission to pass. We have no idea how long they have been waiting, but a short time after we pass they arrive at Ar-Ras checkpoint and continue without problems toward Tulkarm.
Ar-Ras
10:55 – Cars that come from the direction of Tulkarm go through inspections but those that come from Qalqiliya don't. There are no women dog trainers, the soldiers are civil and there are no delays.
11:05 – We leave to go back home. There have been no severe events, so why is exactly that so exasperating?
'Anabta CP
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'Anabta CP
The checkpoint is located south of the village of 'Anabta, at the intersection of Road 60 (leading to Nablus at the entrance to Area A), with Road (57, 557, 5576) facing west towards the Einav settlement and the checkpoint at the exit from the West Bank - Figs checkpoint. Until 2010 we used to watch the intersection and report the long columns created due to a slow inspection of the vehicles in both directions.
Oct-28-2011Anabta checkpoint 24.10.11
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'Azzun
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Azoun (updated February 2019)
A Palestinian town situated in Area B (under civil Palestinian control and Israeli security control),
on road 5 between Nablus and Qalqiliya, east of Nabi Elias village. The inhabitants are allowed to construct and improve infrastructures. The Separation Fence has confiscated lands belonging to the town's people. In 2018 olive tree groves owned by one of its inhabitants were confiscated for the sake of paving a road to bypass Nabi Elias. Azoun population numbers 13,000, its economic state dire. Its infrastructures are poor, neglect and poverty rampant. In the meantime, the town council has completed paving an internal road for the inhabitants' welfare.
Because of its proximity to the Jewish settler-colony of Karnei Shomron and its outposts, the town suffers the intense presence of the Israeli army, especially at nighttime: soldiers enter homes, arrest suspects, trash the house and sometimes ruin it, as they do in numerous places in the West Bank. At times a checkpoint closes the entrance to the town, so no one can come in or get out.
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A-Ras (The Children Checkpoint)
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A-Ras (The Children Checkpoint)
On Tulkarm-Qalqiliya road (574), east of Hirbet Jubara. tia checkpoint is dedicated to residents traveling to and from Tulkarm, so they should not cross apartheid road 557 (only permissible for settlers).
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Jubara (Kafriat)
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The Jabra checkpoint was on Road 557, south of Tulkarm, on the side of the Figs Pass, which is located within the Palestinian Authority (a few kilometers east of the Green Line), and serves as an entry barrier from the territories to Israel. The checkpoint to the village of Jubara, which until 2013 was in the seam area, blocked and surrounded by a fence, was intended for the passage of the family members of the house next to the checkpoint, and also for the MachsomWatch volunteers (with special permission only), on their way to checkpoint 753. on the other side of the village. The soldiers supervising the "fig crossing" also supervised the crossing at this checkpoint, in our shifts we often waited a long time until the key was found and the gate opened. The checkpoint was abolished and became part of the separation fence that was moved west following the High Court.
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Qalqiliya checkpoint
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Qalqilya is surrounded on all sides by the separation barrier. The only exit from the city is in the east of the city on the road that leaves the city in an easterly direction. This is where the checkpoint was located. When the checkpoint was active until 2009 our shifts watched long queues of cars being inspected at the only exit from the city to the West Bank. The checkpoint was canceled, but there is a military presence at the entrance to the city.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Azzun: Enclosed by a high fence and the gate to the village is closed
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