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‘Azzun, ‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Falamiya, Habla, Sun 7.7.13, Morning

Observers: Nina S., Dina A. (reporting), Translator: Judith Green
Jul-07-2013
| Morning
 

 

At the early hour of 6 AM , on the way to the lookout on the 'Azzun 'Atma checkpoint, we saw a great many people walking the 2 kilometers to the bus stop at Oranit in order to take buses to their places of work.  They told us that, since there are no buses to the checkpoint, they have to go on foot.  Outside of the checkpoint there were already a lot of workers standing by the side of the road, hoping someone would come to take them to work, running beside any car that stopped in the hope that it would take them to their day's work.  This essentially looked like a day workers' market where they wait every day to get work and bring money home.  A humiliating position, combined with permanent personal and economic insecurity.

 

06:10  'Azzun 'Atma checkpoint

There are about 40 people in line; 6 men are waiting beside the soldier's station, because their documents were taken away, probably since they came  through a hole in the fence.  They forbade us to talk with them, and forbade them strictly to talk with us; naturally they were scared, even though we attempted to chat with them.  New people joined the line constantly, but the line progressed without any problems.  Young men who arrived from their homes on the Israeli side of the border fence have to go through the inspection station at the checkpoint;  also men from the Henson company (?) returning from work are sent through one by one. They are not allowed to talk to us.

 

During the trip through the area ready for the new fence, on the way back from 'Azzun 'Atma, in the direction of the Oranit bus stop,  we noticed  a sign "Here the industrial area will be built ", and there was also a name there which we didn't manage to see, since we were driving. It seems that they are once again using Palestinian land for the expansion and development of the settlements.  We will continue to check what exactly is written there next week.

 

06:40  Habla checkpoint

About 20 people are already outside, which indicates that the passage is pretty quick.  The line is short and occasionally more pedestrians join it, also on tractors and bikes.  A bedouin arrives from Arab Ramdin (Israeli?).  He shows his documents and enters the West Bank.

 

07:15  Eliyahu Gate checkpoint

When we arrived, the gates were closed for a minute with an announcement from the loud speaker, and then opened again.  "Back to normal", as the announcement from the loud speaker says…About 20 people are waiting in the pedestrian line;  everything else is "normal".

 

07:40  Falamya checkpoint

Quiet, a bicycle goes through, rides off on the patrol road;  a truck passes, also a tractor.

 

On our way to the Falamya checkpoint, at the entrance to 'Azzun, we saw a military car parked, watching those entering.  When we came out, at 08:30, a "hammer" had joined it, standing and guarding the main entrance to 'Azzun;  at the entrance to 'Azzun from the direction of Izbat Tabib, there was also a military jeep scouting, but the passage remained free.

 

  • '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.

       

  • '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

       

      עזון: הכניסה הראשית לכפר עזון: חסומה כבר מספר שבועות
      Apr-11-2019
      Azoun: 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

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  • Habla

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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.

       

      מחסום חבלה: מערכת שערים
      Ronit Dahan-Ramati
      Apr-25-2025
      Habla Checkpoint: system of gates
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