‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Qalqiliya, Ras ‘Atiya, Wed 16.9.09, Morning
Sarah Fishman, Dalia Golomb
Translation: Bracha B.A.
Important Announcement: There will be a closure beginning tonight at midnight! There is no point in sending shifts to the Irtah and Eyal crossings. In case you don’t remember, the clock in Palestine has been moved back one hour, and when it is 4:00 AM in Israel, it is only 03:00 AM there.
04:30 – (Israel time) Irtah – Everything is closed. A crowd of people is standing outside in the dark and waiting behind the fence. Despite the fact that Palestinian time is now an hour earlier, they still have to get to work according to Israeli time. In other words, they have to get to the checkpoint at 03:00 instead of 04:00 after a night of Ramadan and will go through a workday fasting.
04:40 – The two turnstiles open, and about 40 people come out before they close again. The first 40 are waiting to be checked at the narrow gate where there is a magnometer. It takes only about three minutes to pass through that gate. This process repeats itself: 40 people emerge from the turnstiles, continue to the narrow gate behind them, and go through other checks inside the checkpoint.
At 05:00 we already saw many people in the parking lot who had gone through all the checks: in other words the checks were done efficiently and quickly. There is water in the parking lot that people drink and wash with. There are two bathrooms that are clean and that are being used.
05:30 – We go back to the turnstiles outside and the line is still very long. The routine is depressing: figures are running in the dark trying to get into line and others are still behind the fences. The wait in line is long and tiresome. Outside the checkpoint facility huge trucks are standing with concrete blockades that are part of the separation wall. It appears that the entire checkpoint will be “protected” by the wall. Some of the wall has already been built. It is not clear from whom the checkpoint has to be protected here, but millions of shekels are being poured into it.
06:00 – The line outside grows longer. It is still too dark to photograph properly.
06:15 – One last photo – the concrete barriers on the truck and the fence. One of the drivers from the trucks asks me, “Where are you from?”
“From Tel Aviv,” I answer.
“Who are you taking pictures for?”
“For the State of Israel.”
We left..
06:45 – Qalqilya – Empty. There are two women soldiers lookout out from the tower. They are almost invisible.
From there we continued to the blocked village of Azun. We had to bring school bags for Abdallah’s children, who is a friend of Tami’s. We tried to enter through Azibet-Aviv on the new road. The road appeared to be open, but after several kilometers we reached a roadblock of earth and rocks. (|As if we had been deliberately put off course and the roadblock had not been put up earlier).
We came back and went through the attractive gate into Asla and from there to Azun. At the entrance to Azzun we did not know how which way to go. A car with 6 youths (who appeared similar to those who throw rocks and who are the reason for the village being under curfew) and asked them for help. While talking to Abdallah I gave them the phone so that they could explain how to reach him. They were surprised at first and asked us, “Are you looking for an Arab?” I answered: “Yes. Are there any Jews here?”
07:10 – Gate 109 – Eliyahu Crossing: We did not get out of the car because we wanted to get to Ras Atiya when the children go to school. From the car we saw several workers waiting in line to be checked and going through.
They spoke with Abdallah and told us to follow them. We reached our destination with their help. We gave them the school bags and returned.
07:20 – Ras Atiya Checkpoint – A few people are waiting next to the checkpoint for their relatives to arrive from the other side. There are also a few cars waiting. We ask the people why there are no children going to school. It then became apparent that the clocks in Palestine have already been changed.
The time in Palestine is 06:20, not 07:20. We have to wait another hour to observe the children. We were happy to see Abed’s girls arrive at the checkpoint, the shepherd who lives in the shack next to the checkpoint. We are old friends. We were very pleased to meet them and then parted. Despite this, we did not get home until 09:00 because the way home was longer due to heavy traffic on the roads.
'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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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.
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Qalqiliya checkpoint
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Qalqilya is surrounded on all sides by the separation barrier. The only exit from the city is in the east of the city on the road that leaves the city in an easterly direction. This is where the checkpoint was located. When the checkpoint was active until 2009 our shifts watched long queues of cars being inspected at the only exit from the city to the West Bank. The checkpoint was canceled, but there is a military presence at the entrance to the city.Karin LindnerApr-11-2019Etz Ephraim settlement. Nurit overlooks Siniriya
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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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