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‘Anabta, Deir Sharaf, Eliyahu Crossing, Huwwara, Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Ras ‘Atiya, Wed 2.12.09, Morning

Observers: Nora R., (reporting) Hadas P, guest, Bracha B Translating
Dec-02-2009
| Morning

 

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06:00 – Workers who have the right to cross here are crowded on the other side of the Eliyahu Crossing.  “The guy in charge of the line” – who does the job on a volunteer basis – says that about 150 workers go through here each morning.  Three or four workers are let in each time and it takes 5-8 minutes to check them.  They claim that “today everything is OK.”  To us it appears to be very slow.

06:50 – Ras Atiya – For some reason (the soldier explains, “There’s a suspicious object) the route opened late and Palestinians began to go through the turnstile  leading to the inspection area only after 7:00.  At the same time the soldiers began checking vehicles going in both directions.  Cars are checked meticulously.  One of the soldiers is busy with morning prayers but while is praying he calls to the others and demands that they make us leave.  We remained standing where we were and insisted that we were not disturbing anyone.  People coming out from being checked undergo another check when they reach the exit gate. 

“Were you in one of the rooms?” “Show your certificates…”  the soldier ends his prayers cannot restrain himself and continues to shout at us, calling us traitors, claiming that we are stabbing the country in the back, and that we should have “Arab” written on our I.D. cards etc. etc. 

The bus with children arrives and when we speak with the driver we understand that he drives children from the Bedouin tribe to school in Qalqilya.

.08:20 – Huwara: It is generally very quiet.  The soldiers arrive and warn us not to get close (to what?).  Checks are slower at the exit from Nablus and there is a line of cars.  There are two cars waiting at the side of the road.  The checkpoint commander explains that their I.D.s are being listed for interrogation and they will check and see…The taxi was immediately released and after two minutes the cars were also allowed to leave.  The Palestinian shouts to us from his car that he has been detained here since 07:00. 

Suddenly an order comes in and meticulous checks begin at the entrance to Nablus.  All men’s I.D.s are checked against a list containing three numbers (wanted men?) .  After several minutes a line of cars begins to form.  One of the inspectors is suspicious and the longer the check takes the longer the line of cars grows.  All efforts to move the soldiers are in vain.  A phone call to the Humanitarian Hotline does not help at all.  We left at 10:25 and counted 105 cars waiting in line!  The line continues beyond the entrance to the road leading to the checkpoint.

10:40 – Anabta: Three jeeps are standing next to the tower but no one is being checked. 

11:00 Irtah: I show my guest the entrance route and discover that several people have arrived who are trying to get in.  The turnstiles are closed and they are not allowed to go in.  I couldn’t understand why.  We left frustrated (I am not feeling very well.)

 

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  • '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.  
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      Anabta checkpoint 24.10.11
  • Deir Sharaf checkpoint

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    • Deir Sharaf checkpoint is located west of Nablus and south of the settlement of Shavei Shomron, at the entrance to the village of Deir Sharaf on the road leading to Nablus. The checkpoint was activated in early March 2009 after the Beit Iba checkpoint was closed. Palestinians are allowed through the checkpoint , but not for Israelis. Unlike the checkpoints leading to Qalqilya and Tulkarm, crossing of Israeli Palestinians is only allowed on Saturdays.

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  • Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing

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    • Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing This checkpoint, also known as the Fruit Crossing, is one of the main checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. It is located on Route 55 between Alfei Menashe and the turn to Qalqilya and Zufin, more than 4 km east of the Green Line, in the separation fence, which separates Qalqilya from its lands to the south, thus leaving Alfei Menashe West of the fence - the Seam Zone. This checkpoint, a few kilometers across the Green Line, is intended for "Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the population of the Seam Zone." It is managed by a civil company. Palestinians with a special permit for their lands in the seam area are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.  
  • Huwwara

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    • The Huwwara checkpoint is an internal checkpoint south of the city of Nablus, at the intersection of Roads 60 and 5077 (between the settlements of Bracha and Itamar). This checkpoint was one of the four permanent checkpoints that closed on Nablus (Beit Furik and Awarta checkpoints to the east and the Beit Iba checkpoint to the west). It was a pedestrian-only barrier. As MachsomWatch volunteers, we watched therre  since 2001  two shifts a day -  morning and noon, the thousands of Palestinians leaving Nablus and waiting for hours in queues to reach anywhere else in the West Bank, from the other side of the checkpoint the destination could only be reached by public transport. In early June 2009, as part of the easing of Palestinian traffic in the West Bank, the checkpoint was opened to vehicular traffic. The passage was free, with occasional military presence in the guard tower.  Also, there were vehicle inspections from time to time. Since the massacre on 7.10.2023, the checkpoint has been closed to Palestinians.

      On February 26, 2023, about 400 settlers attacked the town's residents for 5 hours and set fire to property, such as houses and cars. Disturbances occurred in response to a shooting of two Jewish residents of Har Bracha by a Palestinian Terrorist. The soldiers stationed in the town did not prevent the arson and rescued Palestinian families from their homes only after they were set on fire. No one was punished and Finance Minister Smotrich stated that "the State of Israel should wipe out Hawara." Left and center organizations organized solidarity demonstrations and support actions for the residents of Hawara.

      Hawara continued to be in the headlines in all the months that followed: more pogroms by the settlers, attacks by Palestinians and  a massive presence of the army in the town. It amounted to a de facto curfew of commerce and life in the center of the city. On October 5, 2023, MK Zvi established a Sukkah in the center of Hawara and hundreds of settlers backed the army blocked the main road and held prayers in the heart of the town all night and the next day. On Saturday, October 7, 23 The  "Swords of Iron" war began with an attack by Hamas on settlements surrounding Gaza in the face of a poor presence of the IDF. Much criticism has been made of the withdrawal of military forces from the area surrounding Gaza and their placement in the West Bank, and in the Hawara and Samaria region in particular, as a shield for the settlers who were taking over and rioting.

      On November 12, 2023, the first section of the Hawara bypass road intended for Israeli traffic only was opened. In this way, the settlers can bypass the road that goes through the center of Hawara, which is the main artery for traffic from the Nablus area to Ramallah and the south of the West Bank. For the construction of the road, the Civil Administration expropriated 406 dunams of private land belonging to Palestinians from the nearby villages. The settlers are not satisfied with this at the moment, and demand to also travel through Hawara itself in order to demonstrate presence and control.

      (updated November 2023)

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  • Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)

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    • The checkpoint is for Palestinians only. It is the main barrier to the passage of workers from the northern West Bank to Israel. Workers with a permit to work in Israel and also for trade (with appropriate permissions), medicine, and visiting prisoners. One can cross the checkpoint only on foot. The checkpoint is located north of Road 557 and south of Tulkarm. Operated by a civil security company, opening hours: between 4:00 and 19:00 on weekdays. As members of Machsom Watch, we began our shifts to this location in 2007. We arrived before it opened at 4 in the morning and report since, on the harsh conditions and the long and crowded queues of workers. The workers who pass by continue their journey by transportation to work throughout Israel. In the first period of its activity, about 3,000 and then 5,000 people passed through this checkpoint every day. Due to the small number of checking points and arbitrary delays for long periods of time in the "rooms", workers feared losing their transportation. Hence workers leave their homes at 2:30 at night to be among the first. Today, 15,000 pass and the transition is faster. Workers are still leaving their homes very early to get past the checkpoint at 7 p.m. In an adjacent compound, there is a terminal for the transfer of goods on a commercial scale, using the back-to-back method.  
  • Ras 'Atiya

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    • The checkpoint is presently on the Separation Barrier roadway, manned and open 12 hours a day, from 6:30 to 18:30. West of it is the large Seam Line village whose school is attended by children from the nearby villages east of the Barrier and many of whose inhabitants have permits to work in Israel. How long this checkpoint will remain in place is unknown, since construction of the Separation Wall, just by the settlement of Alfe Menashe, east of the present Separation Barrier, is endless, as is the creation of a new road and, obviously, a new checkpoint.

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