‘Azzun, ‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Falamiya, Habla, Kufr Jammal, Mon 30.1.12, Morning
06:40-07:05 Azun Atma:
Many workmen were grouped around bonfires. A cloudy day but not raining. Before we had even reached the gates they reported to us that this was a good day and the soldiers were working on a "piece-work" basis. There were no workmen waiting on line and as soon as the taxis bringing in the workers approached, the passengers were allowed through efficiently. It may well be that the forecast of rain kept some people at home.
07:15 Habla:
The gate was open and the first team of five workers was on its way out. Two horse-drawn carts passed through smoothly, same with two private vehicles. The schools are still on vacation.
07:30 Four groups of five workmen each passed through, but some 20-30 people are still waiting on line
07:45 Eliyahu Crossing:
In the pedestrian lane, before the turnstile, there were some ten people waiting. Three cars were being checked.
07:50-08:00: We noted that it took two cars about 8 minutes each to get through. There now are many cars waiting to be checked and we noticed that a dog was being led in their direction.
Across from the entrance to Azun there were two stationed military vehicles with lights blinking.
08:15: Agricultural gate Falamiya
We encountered the owner of the sheep herd, awaiting someone who was supposed to bring him the yield of the morning milking. No other people were waiting though some cars showed up near the passage.
08:35: Kufr Jammal
We had arranged to meet some acquaintances – farmers we knew, to see how matters were, in preparation for a meeting set with the commander of the Civilian Administration: They confirmed that there was no change at all. Despite their requests to the Palestinian DCO and to the Civil Administration, permits that had been confiscated from the farmers as a punishment had not been returned and the agricultural gates to the olive groves had not been opened. Moreover, the permits they have are to the Sal'it gate, which is opened twice daily and not to the Falamiye gate, which is open throughout the day.
We returned through a beautiful road overlooking the villages of Zibad, Abush, Hajja, reaching Funduk – a landscape of blooming almond trees and anemones. At the foothills of the Gilad we saw signs: Beware of mines.
09:55 Opposite the entrance to Azzun we noticed military vehicles.
We passed easily through Eliyahu Crossing.
'Azzun
See all reports for this place-
Azoun (updated February 2019)
A Palestinian town situated in Area B (under civil Palestinian control and Israeli security control),
on road 5 between Nablus and Qalqiliya, east of Nabi Elias village. The inhabitants are allowed to construct and improve infrastructures. The Separation Fence has confiscated lands belonging to the town's people. In 2018 olive tree groves owned by one of its inhabitants were confiscated for the sake of paving a road to bypass Nabi Elias. Azoun population numbers 13,000, its economic state dire. Its infrastructures are poor, neglect and poverty rampant. In the meantime, the town council has completed paving an internal road for the inhabitants' welfare.
Because of its proximity to the Jewish settler-colony of Karnei Shomron and its outposts, the town suffers the intense presence of the Israeli army, especially at nighttime: soldiers enter homes, arrest suspects, trash the house and sometimes ruin it, as they do in numerous places in the West Bank. At times a checkpoint closes the entrance to the town, so no one can come in or get out.
-
'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
-
Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing
See all reports for this place-
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.
-
Falamiya
See all reports for this placeHabla
See all reports for this place-
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.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
-
Kufr Jammal
See all reports for this place-
Kufr Jammal This village, rising about 200 meters over sea level, is located about 14 kilometers south of Tul Karm town and about 17 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The families living there since the mid-18th century number about 3,000 persons at present. The village has lost thousands of dunams of its northern and western lands due to the construction of the Separation Barrier, leaving the lands themselves behind the barrier. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2011, the barrier was moved to the west and many farmlands were returned to their owners. It is a quiet village, its relations with the nearby settler-colony of Sal’it are favorable, and many of the villagers work in the colony’s industrial plants. Farmers cross the agricultural checkpoint close to this settler-colony in order to tend their fields unhampered. However, there are numerous acts of harassment and disorder taking place when the village farmers cross the other agricultural checkpoints: gates do not open at hours suitable to the farmers’ needs, and for a short period of time only; the Civil Administration usually prevents all kinds of crops except olives; tractors and other farm equipment are forbidden entry; only a single permit is issued per family, and occasionally such permits are confiscated and their re-issue is delayed – the common excuse is usually “security reasons”. How do the villagers make their living? Holders of work permits inside Israel travel at 3 a.m. to Eyal Checkpoint near Qalqiliya town in order to make it on time to their workplace at Sal’it (close to their village) and elsewhere. Owners of vegetable patches who hold permits are allowed to reach their fields beyond the Separation Barrier through the distant Falamiya Checkpoint. Importantly, fields returned to the village show amazing improvement intending, irrigation and farming variety – and instead of the neglected olive tree groves that were accessible only to holders of transit permits through agricultural checkpoints usually closed, farming has now flourished. (updated Jan 2021)
-