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‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Huwwara, Ras ‘Atiya, Za’tara (Tapuah), Tue 27.4.10, Morning

Observers: Nataly C, Ruthi R.
Apr-27-2010
| Morning

Translation: Galia S.

Azzun Atme checkpoint
07:15 – As I leave the car, I have an uneasy feeling: I am about to watch people in degrading circumstances. They will be standing in front of me and I'll be watching them against their will. Intrusive, but also lucky not to be in the same trouble, I haven't come to terms with this issue yet.

In the post made of concrete blocks, left of the room, there are four soldiers with weapons, helmets and bullet-proof vests. About twenty men are waiting to leave the village. The line is 3 meters away from the registration room, and two posts are operating. The line is so orderly that only when the post is freed, does the next in line come forward and shows his documents.

The passage is quick and the soldiers don't check food bags today. The reason for this efficiency soon becomes clear: the computer is out of order! So what they do is copy the names of the leaving people from the documents they have and this is definitely much quicker!

According to the people leaving, yesterday afternoon the entry was very much delayed – over 2 hours. Hundreds of people were waiting on the road outside with only one very slow person to do the checking.

I give them our phone number, so we can help and talk to the "DCO" in case such a thing happens. ["DCO" – District Coordination Office of the IDF Civil Administration that handles passage permits].

Za'tara checkpoint
08:00 – When we arrive, the place is empty of cars. Six soldiers man the two lanes for the cars that come from the direction of Nablus. Cars that go toward Nablus are not checked. There are soldiers also in the watch tower and in the big parking area there is a dog trainer with a dog.

Before we have time to enjoy the quiet, they start checking every single car in one of the lanes, which results in a line of 18 cars within a minute. Minutes later they stop checking documents and cars just pass slowly through the checkpoint.


Huwwara
08:10 – A military jeep is near the quarry in the village. In the junction facing Yizhar there are two soldiers in a post of concrete blocks.

Huwwara checkpoint
08:30 – The Border Police soldiers are at the entrance to Nablus and five soldiers are at the exit (including a dog trainer).

In the parking lot at the entrance to Nablus, there are 6 cars that were detained 10 days ago in a police operation to locate stolen vehicles. They are here gathering dust and waiting for ownership proof. Two Palestinians who arrived to pick up their cars are near the parking lot. They have brought permits and licences and another document signed by a notary and are now waiting for the policeman to come and release their vehicles.

09:15 – A jeep is at the entrance to Yizhar.

09:25 – A civilian military vehicle is busy giving tickets in Funduq

09:35 – A jeep is at the entrance to Azzun.

09:40 – In Nabi I'lyas there are two military jeeps with a small truck. What are they doing here?

09:45 – At Eliyahu Gate checkpoint there are no waiting cars and no pedestrians.

Ras 'Atiya
10:15 – The new checkpoint isn't active yet. There is some activity at the old checkpoint and once in a while a car or a pedestrian, a pupil, a student passes there.

At this hour it is very quiet here.

10:30 – We leave.

No special delays and only random checks on entering and leaving Nablus.

  • '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

       

      עזון: הכניסה הראשית לכפר עזון: חסומה כבר מספר שבועות
      Apr-11-2019
      Azoun: The main entrance to village blocked now for several weeks
  • Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing

    See all reports for this place
    • 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)

      .
      Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
      Fathiya Akfa
      Apr-11-2019
      Huwara: traffic jam on the main road
  • 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.

  • Za'tara (Tapuah)

    See all reports for this place
    • Za'tara (Tapuah) Za'tara is an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, at the intersection of Road 60 and Road 505 (Trans-Samaria), east of the Tapuah settlement. This checkpoint is the "border" marked by the IDF between the north and south of the West Bank, in accordance with the policy of separation between the two parts of the West Bank that has been in place since December 2005. At the Za'tara checkpoint, there are separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians. In the route for Israelis, there are no inspections and the route for Palestinians inspects. The queue lengthens and shortens suits. The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day. The checkpoint is partially staffed and the people who pass through it are checked at random.  
      זעתרא (צומת תפוח). שלטים
      Shoshi Anbar
      Sep-27-2023
      Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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