Around Jerusalem - Al-Eizariya, the Container, Mazmuria, Isawiya, 'Anata-Shuefat - the situation is only getting worse
A comprehensive shift after a long absence. New checkpoints have sprung up in Issawiya and Sheikh Jarrah. In Issawiya, buses and vehicles stop, check passengers’ IDs, sometimes on a tablet computer, and drop some people off for more comprehensive checks. Sometimes fines. There are also surprise checkpoints (Al Azaria and Sheikh Jarrah) where certain vehicles stop (not randomly but according to the impression of the Border Police at the scene, it seems) – check tablets through a tablet, ask questions – make life difficult for Palestinians living in Jerusalem.
7:30 Mazmuriya / Container / Al Ezaria
At the Mazmuriya (the checkpoint leads from Tekoa and west of Gush Etzion to Jerusalem) only cars with blue certificates pass and traffic flows without delays. We asked the Border Police if anything had changed in the procedures – after an urgent conversation with his commander on the phone, it turned out to be a security secret … The road from there to the container checkpoint is long and winding on one route (the only Palestinian road from Bethlehem crazy ascent, breathtaking view, but much smoke from the exhausts of the struggling cars .There is also a traffic jam on the ascent, although when we arrive, it turns out that the soldiers are only standing on the side of the exit to the West Bank, not on the side of the entrance to Israel. Later it turns out that the tests are done at the exit from Al Ezaria in the square from which there is an entrance to Ma’ale Adumim
Issawiya checkpoint:
At the checkpoint at the exit to French Hill, a beautiful female soldier and two border guards are standing. Every 2 minutes or so, a bus stops and two of them go in to check on all passengers and also vehicles. In general, there are a large number of border guards at the Jerusalem checkpoints, most of them appear convinced of that what they are doing is for the good of the country … When a car is stopped, a blue policeman emerges and checks the validity of a license and a test. If something’s wrong the unfortunate gets a report. We were a witness to an employee at a nursing home,who was taken off the the bus even though his work permit was valid. On a tablet it was not so. This often happens. The bus did not wait and left. The man got angry and told one of the soldiers that he knew he knew him, saw him every day. Shouts started but in the end everyone calmed down and the man climbed on foot.
We learned from the newspaper that under pressure from Mayor Leon, a new master plan for the Issawiya neighborhood was approved, which would make it possible to regulate the legality of most of the buildings built without a permit in the neighborhood. But its boundaries were limited by the “Slopes of Mount Scopus” National Park announced a few years ago.
Sheikh Jarrah
We counted 5 checkpoints that border the small neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in the east and do not allow non-residents to enter. We were told in advance that only the locals and religious Jews who visit the tomb of Shimon the Righteous pass through them and also Jews wishing to visit those who have taken a home over. But it is very true when we say that a few streets in the neighborhood have been turned into a ghetto for the Palestinians who have lived there before the religious Jews. We as a human rights organization and a Japanese reporter who came after us were allowed to enter; An ultra-Orthodox young man was riding an electric bicycle on the neighborhood roads – just looking curious. Residents are not seen outside the homes at this time. Some are built in the traditional format of a garden and a stone structure and an iron gate with a peephole into the threatened paradise. In addition to signs protesting the deportation, and graffiti of all kinds, we saw a small courtyard library of books in Arabic, and a window of a house protected by shoes, probably against throwing all sorts of objects inside. A settlers’ house with flags and other symbols of nationality looks like a foreign and ugly plant
On the main road leading to the center of Sheikh Jarrah, there is a Border Police vehicle, and its soldiers stop anyone who wants to and check them for whatever reason . I filmed a video of two young men on mopeds who had been stopped – one a teenage pizza courier, the other a student. When I asked the student if he had attended any recent demonstration or gathering, he answered me cynically: “Sure, I’m in riots all day,” adding: “There’s nothing to do, in a few more years everyone will be Jews here … “. Buses, passers-by and cars also stopped. I assume that throughout Jerusalem there are now more such “pleasant” corners for the Palestinians to examine in order to establish “law and order.”
Look at the story of Sheikh Jarrah presented graphically. “Peace Now”.
'Isawiya (East Jerusalem)
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Isawiya is an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, located on the eastern slopes of Mount Scopus in northern Jerusalem, on the edge of the Judean Desert. It is limited by the Slopes of Mount Scopus National Park, which was declared in 2012 to prevent the expansion of the neighborhoods of A-Tur and Isawiya. It has about 16,000 residents, but the neighborhood does not have a service and commercial center — a fact that causes the residents to consume services in the commercial center of the adjacent Jewish neighborhood French Hill .Most of the residents of the neighborhood work in Jerusalem.
The municipal plan for the neighborhood has been held up for years. This causes housing shortage and culminates in extensive demolitions of unpermitable home extentions and any new building. Unrest and violence follow, and police enters houses at night and throws gas graneds near schools.,.
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Al-'Eizariya
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Al-'Eizariya
At exit from Al-'Eizariya, before square leading to Maale Adumim. Mobile checkpoint (jeep and Border Police) operating till 09:00 am, facilitating traffic exiting Maale Adumin on three kilometer strip of road, also permissible for Palestinian vehicles. A similar checkpoint in the opposite direction, on road between Mishor Adumim and Adumim Junction. This checkpoint facilitates settler traffic on the Jerusalem-Jericho-Rift Valley road.
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Checkpoint Shu'afat camp / Anata-Shu'afat (Jerusalem)
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The Shu’afat checkpoint is located in the northern part of East Jerusalem at the exit from the village of Anata and the Shu’afat refugee camp, which are located in the area annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. The refugee camp borders the Shu’afat neighborhood to the west, Pisgat Ze’ev to the north, the French Hill neighborhood to the south and the planned expansion of Ma’aleh Adumim to E-1 in the east. It was established in 1966 for 1948 refugees from the West Bank and was populated after the Six Day War by persons who had been expelled from the Jewish Quarter. Today its population comprises some 25,000 people holding blue ID cards and some 15,000 people with Palestinian ID cards. The camp lacks adequate infrastructure and services, and suffers from poverty, neglect and overcrowding. All its buildings are connected to the public electricity and water infrastructure, but not all are connected to the sewer system. The camp’s services are provided by UNRWA, except for those such as health clinics and transportation of pupils to schools in Jerusalem. In 2005, the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected a suit by the residents requesting that the route of the separation fence be drawn such that the camp would remain on the Israeli side, but conditioned its approval of the route on the establishment of a convenient and rapid crossing facility for the inhabitants of the neighborhood, most of whom are residents of Jerusalem.
A temporary checkpoint operated there until December, 2011. It was extremely congested during rush hours, and dangerous for pedestrians (especially children) because of inadequate safety provisions. The new checkpoint was inaugurated south of the old one, for public and private transportation and for pedestrians, intended solely for the residents of the camp – holders of blue ID cards, and those with Palestinian ID cards who possess appropriate permits. There are five vehicle inspection stations at the checkpoint, and two for pedestrians (one of which is currently closed) where scanners have been installed but are not yet operating. According to the army, representatives of government agencies will also be present to provide services to residents of the neighbourhood. The pedestrian lanes are very long, located far from the small parking lots, and accessible through only a single revolving gate.
Anat TuegJan-25-2026Anata: A new outpost has been built south of the junction
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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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Nu'man (Mazmuria)
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situated on the Wall route as part of "Jerusalem Envelope," in its southeastern stretch, east of Zur Baher, Um Tuba and the small Nuaman Village, on Beit Sahur road, the checkpoint will serve as the main crossing for commercial goods from the southern West Bank to Jerusalem.
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