‘Azzun ‘Atma, Tue 28.4.09, Afternoon
‘Azzun ‘Atma (upper checkpoint at the entrance to the village)
17:50 The settlers’ vehicles go by without even seeing the checkpoint at the entrance to the village that has turned ‘Azzun ‘Atma into a prison. As residents of Sha’arei Tiqwa have already explained to us on other occasions, they are no longer settlers, and it’s no longer a settlement since the separation fence passes to the east and includes them, as it were, within Israeli territory. Maybe it includes them, but the residents of the village next to them are no longer in Palestine, but nor are they in Israel yet. Trapped in between. So they have to be inspected when they enter, and inspected when they leave, to need special permits in order to leave the house.
When we reach the checkpoint, the gate is closed. The soldiers are conducting an exercise: “Suspicious people to the left…suspicious people to the right…Fire! Fire! Fire!” They’re playing their war games over the radio. After a few minutes the exercise is over and the gate opens. The soldiers know the names of those going through, and how they’re related to each other: the intimacy that forms between the jailer and the prisoner.
“Suspicious figures on the road,” the soldier in the watchtower above the checkpoint shouts suddenly. The checkpoint commander corrects him: “Upside-down Turkish horseman,” not yet recovered from the war games. He runs over immediately and begins laughing – they’re two village children returning home.
'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
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