‘Azzun ‘Atma, Thu 28.8.08, Afternoon
16: 28
Fifteen people are sitting on the gravel next to the checkpoint. About another twenty are standing in line behind the concrete wall.
The people who are being detained are workers who came back from Israel. Their I.D cards were taken no less than a quarter of an hour ago. Five minutes after our arrival, one of the soldiers called the whole group and they now are returning the I.D cards back to them.
Eight cars are waiting to pass from Azzun-Atme to the west bank. The soldiers gets irritated if one of the people do not stand exactly behind the concrete wall or if they don't stand in line. – "who speaks Hebrew?" a soldier shouts – and calls one of the men to him in order to explain that he has to tell all the others to get in line. The man returns and delivers the order.
The workers who came from Israel without a permit are being forced to answer a series of questions and are detained for a while. Little children who pass alone are also compelled to go through the entire checking process.
One of the men in line tells us "look how they stack us in a row like chickens –as if we were not nine month in our mothers womb."
"I am telling you to go back- and you answer me?!' cries one of the soldiers towards a Palestinian.
We left at 17:30
'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
Apr-11-2019Azoun: The main entrance to village blocked now for several weeks
-
