‘Azzun, ‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Falamiya, Habla, Sun 4.8.13, Morning
What did we see on the way to the checkpoint? We saw groups of Palestinian laborers walking along the roadside, we saw people going through a hole in the fence, we saw holes hacked through the fence, we saw a military jeep driving to catch laborers without permits who managed to cross through the holes.
What did we see at the checkpoint? We saw laborers waiting for their employers since the early morning, we saw laborers waiting on line for half an hour just to leave the village, we saw dozens of detainees who’d sneaked through the holes, had been caught and were waiting for their IDs to be returned so they could go home without having been able to earn a little money for the end of Ramadan. We saw a Palestinian limping who’d been brought to the checkpoint by jeep; he told us that he had been beaten when he was caught going through a hole in the fence.
Nothing unusual happened. What we saw was the occupation routine.
06:10 'Azzun 'Atma checkpoint
Many people have already gone through the checkpoint. About 70 people wait in line.
Sixteen detainees wait at the entrance to the checkpoint – Palestinian laborers caught going through holes in the fence. Very few of them are older men. One asks for the bathroom – there isn’t one. Another says he was caught at 4 AM, and has been waiting since then for the soldiers to return his ID card so he can re-enter the village to go home. A soldier in an elevated position near the entrance holds a huge pile of Palestinian IDs, apparently belonging to Palestinians who went through holes in the fence. They’re given to another soldier who calls out the names and gives IDs to some of the detainees who return to the village. Belongings were confiscated from some people who were caught; the soldiers try to match the belongings with their owners’ descriptions.
There goes a day of work and a chance to make a little more money for the end of Ramadan.
A patrol jeep arrives with a new stack of IDs that are handed to the soldiers at the checkpoint. It turns out that the soldiers in the jeep catch those sneaking through the holes, confiscate their IDs and make them walk to the checkpoint. Some have been waiting since 4 or 5 AM but their IDs still haven’t arrived. A jeep arrives with another man who was caught – he isn’t able to bend his leg. He sits weeping. When we asked him what happened he told us that he had been beaten by the soldiers who caught him. Apparently that’s why he got a ‘treat” – a ride in the jeep – and didn’t have to walk on his injured leg.
06:45 Even though some of the detainees had been sent home, there are more now than there were half an hour ago: we saw them arriving on foot while we were at the checkpoint.
The checkpoint line is still long, apparently because a greater number of people cross on Sunday, but it begins slowly to shorten. The crossing rate is reasonable. A person who started at 06:15 went through in half an hour. We asked the soldiers to call a medic to examine the man who had been beaten. The medic didn’t find anything; apparently the man had only been bruised, but the medic went to get his ID so he could be released immediately. Meanwhile the man called an ambulance and sat waiting.
An additional trickle arrives of people who were caught and whose IDs were taken.
The soldiers said that when there are no more people leaving, they’ll send back those who were caught sneaking through. They also said that there were magnetic cards left by people who didn’t ask for them to be returned.
The injured man walked back to Palestine after resting for 20 minutes.
07:10 No more line. Now, after the IDs have been recorded, the detainees are allowed to return. Many laborers still wait outside for their employers.
07:30 Habla checkpoint
Quiet, no more line. Whoever arrives from either direction crosses quickly. The vehicle gate is open, which makes it easier for cars and carts to go through (the night watchman with his mule).
Eliyahu gate
Few people in line; a car being inspected.
'Azzun
The gate is open, no entry restrictions.
Falamya
The woodchat shrike again awaited us on the fence. Quiet and peaceful; only the fence blocks and disfigures the landscape. A man who arrived from Jayyus in a car crosses on foot; the car waits in the shade of an olive tree.
'Azzun
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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.
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'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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Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing
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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.
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Falamiya
See all reports for this placeHabla
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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.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
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