‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Huwwara, Mon 28.1.13, Morning
The children are still on vacation; at Huwwara there are inspections at the entrance to Nablus. There ia a change of opening hours at Habla. It is worth checking what goes on there in the afternoon/evening hours.
06:15 'Azzun 'Atma
People are arriving from the Tamar Gate to the road, they said that it opened on time. Outside the Gate, there are a lot of people and, as always, there are bonfires to warm the groups of people and a lot of cars waiting for their workers. The little coffee seller is accompanied this time by his 8-year old brother; their 10-year-old sister also arrives with another jug of coffee. They live along the road to the west of the checkpoint area, so, in order to get there, they have to walk along the road which isn't especially busy at this hour, but the cars traveling on it fly by at great speed.
There are about 70 people in line, but things are going very quickly. A number of people were permitted to go through the Gate and stand nearer to the inspection area, which makes the passage much faster. One man whose waiting time we checked from his arrival, went through in 15 minutes, which is actually record time for this place at this hour. The line continues to shorten and, by the time we left, there were only about 30 people in it.
07:10 Habla
Now they are just opening the gates. There is a change since yesterday in the opening hours, which are now 07:00 – 08:15, 13:00 – 14:00, 17:30 – 18:15 (45 minutes less). People were complaining to us especially about the evening hour, which is too late, as they want to get home before dark, and they finish work much earlier. Those going through told us that they didn't know about the changes and only found out on Friday. The soldiers said that there was a change because they had to open an addition gate, 1360. We went to find it, but it is apparently near Ras at Tira, in an area which we can't reach without our car. We tried to travel to the road which used to lead to Ras at Tira, but the number of the Gate there was different. The whole issue is being 0
The passage was very fast today, really amazing, more than double than usual; it seems that this is possible!
07:50 Eliyahu Gate
2 cars are being inspected and no pedestrians are in line.
08:20 Huwwara
Amazing! There are actually soldiers at the checkpoint and they are stopping and inspecting the vehicles entering Nablus. They said that they were looking for something. Every once in a while they move vehicles to an area closed by stakes in the road, check the documents and cars, and after about 3-5 minutes release them. While the vehicles or, more correctly, the documents are being inspected, the passengers get out and stand on the side.
The traffic circle at the entrance to Hawarra continues to be "improved", as we have already seen in Yehudit's photos. And we, of course, are paying for that. Now a few olive trees have been added, with thick trunks, certainly quite mature trees, and also expensive if one was to buy them. Can we assume they have been stolen?
09:00 Za'atra junction
We traveled from here mainly because of yesterday's "happenings" – in which Palestinians were supposedly caught with a pipe bomb. The area is quiet, no soldiers inspecting and no sign of what happened.
09:20 Entrance to Salfit from Ariel
When we arrive, the yellow gate is closed and there is no sign of life; we stopped nearby and then cars appeared from Salfit and at the guard station at the entrance to Ariel, 50 meters away, 2 soldiers appeared and asked us not to stand near the gate as we were bothering them. So, we moved a bit and then the soldiers returned to the Ariel guard station, from which they apparently used an electrical device to open the gates so that the cars could go through. Also the cars which now arrived from the main road simply entered without any inspection. So, there is long-distance control but, if everyone goes in anyway, what is the sense of closing the gate?
'Azzun 'Atma
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'Azzun 'Atma
A Palestinian village of about 1,800 residents. The settlement of Sha'arei Tikva was established on its land adjacent to it, and the settlement of Oranit was established on its agricultural lands. By 2013, the separation fence had passed through the village and a checkpoint staffed by the army allowed the residents to cross from side to side. After building a massive wall surrounding the village and some of its agricultural lands, the residents went daily for five years to their lands that remained in the Seam Zone through the Oranit agricultural checkpoint (4). Since 2018 it has only opened during the olive harvest and the farmers have to pass daily at the Beit Amin / Abu Salman checkpoint (1447), about 3 kilometers north.From a report from March 24, 2021: "The farmers from Beit Amin and Azon Atma are happy that since February 21 the Oranit checkpoint .is going to be open 3 times a day, The farmers are really developing the place."
Report from July 14, 2024: "Ornit checkpoint is closed . The Beit Amin/Abu Salman agricultural checkpoint is closed (there is no contact with the military to check if it opens rarely), the Ezbat Jaloud checkpoint was opened once a day before the war.
Updated for July 2024
Apr-11-2019Azoun: The main entrance to village blocked now for several weeks
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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.
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Habla
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
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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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Shoshi AnbarMay-18-2025Huwara: The old houses in Area C
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