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‘Azzun ‘Atma, Habla, Huwwara, Za’tara (Tapuah), Thu 7.3.13, Afternoon

Observers: Pitzi S., Yehudit Levin (reporting and photographing)
Mar-07-2013
| Afternoon

Translator:  Charles K.

 

More military traffic than usual.

 

13:55  Habla checkpoint

At the last minute the soldiers allow two Palestinians to enter  their village.

Although the checkpoint closes exactly at 14:00, two vehicles that had been delayed by an upgrade to the inner gate that was being carried out by workers and soldiers were allowed to cross after the scheduled closing hour.

Bedouin who live nearby invite us for coffee, to tell us about their problems and the difficulties they’re being caused.  We promised to come another time.

 

14:10  Eliyahu crossing

A number of impatient tracker dogs from the Oketz unitare penned in cages on the eastern edge of the parking lot.

 

14:43  Highway 60 junction with the Huwwara-Burin road.

Four different military vehicles and two police vehicles speed toward the village.

 

15:00  Huwwara checkpoint

Heavy traffic on the way to the

checkpoint in the direction of Nablus.

 

 

  It eased by the time we reached the

checkpoint.

Three armed soldiers stand alongside

the inspection station at the entrance

to Nablus.  A soldier observes from the

guard tower.

 

15:30  A military jeep is parked in Huwwara.  Three armed soldiers stand near the curb, watching the busy traffic.

 

15:40  Za’tara checkpoint (Tapuach junction).

Many police cars parked there.

A small Palestinian car has been detained.  Three guys stand next to it.  Soldiers stand not far away, their weapons pointed at them (see photo).

 

16:00  Shomron crossing

A very long line of cars waiting to leave Israel.

Two command cars are parked there; police vehicles inspect private minibuses transporting Palestinian laborers.

 

16:05  Azzun Atma checkpoint

The line to enter the checkpoint isn’t crowded

An Israeli taxi has been detained.  The soldiers took the (new) driver’s keys because he’d driven Palestinian laborers to the checkpoint.  The soldiers asked whether the Palestinians had permits; the taxi driver asked them in Arabic and they said no.  The soldiers detained them and the driver for three hours.

 

16:15  Oranit terminal

Members of Machsom Watch, along with members of Yesh Din, Lo Metzaytotand Kav LaOvedarrived today to demonstrate because on Thursday afternoons the police at the Oranit terminal are in the habit of removing Palestinian passengers from bus no. 286 from Tel Aviv to Ariel.

They’re returning home after their 

work week in Israel.  All of them

have Israeli work permits. 

The police didn’t show up today

after two weeks in which we’d

documented them making

Palestinians get off the bus.

 

 

 

photographer: Esti tsal

We came to demonstrate against the police removing Palestinians from the buses, taking their ID cards and making them walk three miles to the Azzun Atma checkpoint where the soldiers detain them as they see fit, and only then can they catch expensive jitneys for a roundabout trip to finally get home after working in Israel for a week.  Were they to continue on the bus on Highway 5 directly to Ariel they’d arrive in 20 minutes at the cost of an inexpensive, subsidized bus ticket (that they already bought and paid for) to this location.

 

The demonstration is against Israel’s apartheid policy,to arouse public opinion in Israel and abroad against Israel’s actions in the occupied territories.

 

Even though the police hadn’t shown up today (the demonstration was aimed at them in particular), settlers nevertheless reacted to our demonstration.  Miki Fisher documented on video what the settlers yelled at us and Esti Tze’al took photographs.

 

A Palestinian laborer we’d met last time when he was made to get off the bus saw us today and telephoned to thank us for being there.

 

 

  • 'Azzun 'Atma

    See all reports for this place
    • '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

       

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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.

       

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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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  • 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.  
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