‘Azzun, ‘Azzun ‘Atma, Eliyahu Crossing, Habla, Jayyus
The occupation routine. We were told that the northern Jayyus gate has been closed for the past two weeks as punishement.
06:20 Azzun Atma south – About 50 people wait to cross; many who have already gone through are clustered around improvised bonfires in the field across the way. The children selling coffee are walking around the checkpoint but disappear shortly after our arrival – heading to school? The women from EAPPI on the other side of the fence tell us that the gates at Jayyous have been closed for more than two weeks; they were to have opened last Sunday (tomorrow they’ll check to see whether they opened). They were told the reason for the closure was that tires were burned near the gate and then they weren’t able to open the lock! A soldier at the checkpoint tried to prevent us from talking to the women; his excuse was that we’re too close to the checkpoint, but we reassured him, saying that the checkpoint isn’t a closed military area. After finishing our conversation we returned to the place where we usually stand. The checkpoint operates “efficiently;” people go through quickly and by 7 AM the line has shortened. Fewer people are also waiting beyond the checkpoint; they’ve left for work. At one point two soldiers ran from the checkpoint (apparently trying to catch someone who went through a hole in the fence), yelling to other soldiers to close the checkpoint. They, however, continued working as usual and the checkpoint didn’t stop operating.
07:20 Habla – The school bus crosses. Many cars and carts cross in both directions, and there’s always a line of some 20 people which lengthens as the hour approaches 07:45 – not because the soldiers are working more slowly but because more people arrive. A female soldier opens the vehicle gate as necessary, all the while speaking on her telephone.
07:44 The gates closed; the soldiers bring through people whose ID’s they’d taken. Those who arrived later – about ten people – weren’t allowed through. In response to their complaints the soldiers said that yesterday they let people through until 09:00, which is impossible. They have to open other gates and expect people to arrive in time, before the gate is scheduled to close. That’s why they collect ID’s from everyone who’s on line at 07:45, but don’t allow anyone to cross who wasn’t there by then. One Palestinian said they collected the ID’s at 07:40, and those who arrived between 07:40 and 07:45 weren’t allowed through. What is true, however, is that the gates used to be open longer and the problems we now witness every week didn’t arise. One of the people crossing spoke perfect Hebrew; he greeted us saying “Have a pure, clear morning.” It was wonderful.
08:00 Eliyahu gate – Eight cars being inspected; three wait their turn. We drove via Izbet Tabib; there’s a narrow opening in the roadblock for cars to go through, like there was last week. There’s no roadblock at the exit from Azzun to Highway 55 but two jeeps are parked in the field by the exit.
'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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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.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
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Jayyus North (935)
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