‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Wed 18.9.13, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
The soldiers’ belief that the land has been promised to the Jews by a god in the form of a male angel maintains the routine running of the checkpoint. That’s what we learned in Azzun Atma.
At Azzun Atma we also received confirmation that Palestinian employment depends on the Jewish calendar. Sukkot eve is a short workday in Israel. So at 6 in the morning, an hour when there are usually a few dozen people at the checkpoint to reach their jobs in Israel, today relatively few are here. Given that Palestinians living far away also must cross here, the few hours they’ll be at work apparently aren’t worth the hours they must spend travelling back and forth.
The soldiers at the checkpoint must be bored. When we arrived the commander demanded we not stand near the inspection booths, but a few minutes later called us: “May I ask you a question?”, asking us to come closer. We had a conversation with him and other soldiers during which we were (again) exposed to the aforementioned belief. What’s there to say in reply…?
At the checkpoint, “every bastard’s a king.” If a few minutes ago we were respectfully invited to stand near the inspection booths, a junior officer arrived and demanded we move away.
We left at 06:45. On our way we drove to see where the Tamar checkpoint had stood – an open gate preventing access to Highway 55, a metal led path, coils of wire on both sides, a concrete tower, and beyond a concrete wall with an opening to the path – evidence of the arbitrary nature of control over Palestinian movement.
07:13 Habla also operates as usual: five people approach the inspection point, a soldier opposite them with weapon drawn, pickup trucks loaded with seedlings, a trailer loaded with earth pulled by a pickup truck, its owner shoveling through it to show the soldier that nothing’s hidden underneath. Remember: the cart is heading for the area captured in 1967, not, god forbid, toward Israel. Buses transporting pupils to the village school are also inspected. Today we saw young boys taken off for additional inspection.
07:56 We left as three cars were on line to leave the village.
08:07 A few Palestinians wait at the Eliyahu crossing checkpoint.
'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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