‘Azzun ‘Atma, Sun 10.8.08, Morning
Overall
- The brigade has given an instruction not to let us pass to the other side of the checkpoint where the lines and the inspections are. It looks as if there is an intention to force us out of the checkpoint and to prevent us from watching what is going on there, which poses a serious problem to maintaining our presence there.
- Due to the ninth of Ab [a day of fasting and mourning; day on which the First and Second Temples are destroyed] the checkpoint is empty.
05:20 – We park our car near the greenhouses and call the driver to come take us to the checkpoint. To our surprise, the checkpoint is almost empty of people and cars. The workers explain that the reason is the Jewish Holiday which is today.
When we arrive and wish to pass to the other side of the checkpoint, where the workers come from, the commander, staff sergeant D., doesn't let us pass the checkpoint. According to him, people with Israeli ID cards cannot pass the checkpoint. If we insist, he says, we can get to the other side in any other way but not through the checkpoint. We call the IDF Humanitarian Center and after a while, following clarifying the matter with the Brigade, they tell us that this is the instruction of the Brigade commander. He demands that we stay behind the concrete blocks, about 20 meters away from the checkpoint, from where it is impossible to see anything. We continue arguing but since there are no people anyway, we leave the 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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