‘Azzun, ‘Azzun ‘Atma, Habla, Haris, Kifl Harith, Za’tara (Tapuah), Wed 3.10.12, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
We spent most of the time driving through the villages, to show our guests the occupation – on the hilltops, the main junctions, in the Palestinian villages.
11:00 – We began at the southern Azzun Atma checkpoint, where no laborers are crossing at this hour. Like the checkpoints in general, this is also undergoing constant alterations “for the good of” the occupied population forced to cross through it. Sidewalks being laid, canopies erected…
We continued on Highway 5 toward Za’tara. Our guests saw the elevated road restricted to Jews, over the road from Zawiyya to Maskha. Farther on, outposts clinging to the hilltops above Brukin and Kufr a-Dik, biting into the locals’ lands; the Barkan industrial zone continually expanding and, of course, Ariel – the metropolis – a very long, narrow strip stretching to the horizons. We pointed out the guard towers and the metal bars permanently installed at the entrances to the roads leading to Palestinian villages. If the army wishes, the road can easily be blocked. We reached Za’tara, where there’s a flourishing kiosk belonging to the settlers; there are emplacements at each entry/exit of this central road junction. The one overlooking the turn to Highway 505 was manned. We saw no Palestinian cars detained.
We returned to Highway 5, through Kifl Hars, Hars, Bidiya, Maskha, to Hani’s house, penned in next to the settlement of Elkana. Having no way out, the conquered one has developed a sense of humor. So he’s written “The State of Hani” on the wall.
We drove through Kafr Thult and Azzun to Highway 55. It’s afternoon; the streets are filled with children returning from school.
13:15 Habla. A few people wait to enter Habla. They crossed a few minutes after we arrived. People go through in groups of five, “as usual.” A man leaving Habla gets stuck in the revolving gate and must wait for “the finger of God” to release him.
Our guests wonder why there’s a checkpoint separating people from their property (plant nurseries, agricultural land…). Who can explain the occupation’s logic…
13:35 – The school buses from ‘Arab al-Ramadin arrive. Here’s some more “logic” to explain – that young children must wait every day, twice, for an armed soldiers to come into the bus.
13:43 – The boys’ bus goes through.
13:51 – The girls’ bus goes through.
The only creatures thatshow any independence and refuse to obey blindly are the sheep whose owner tries to bring them through the checkpoint. Eventually they do what he wants.
14:06 – No more people are waiting. We left.
'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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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.Ronit Dahan-RamatiApr-25-2025Habla Checkpoint: system of gates
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Haris
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Haris
The village has 4,500 people and they have 5,000 dunams of land. The entrance to the village is blocked and opened arbitrarily, without informing the residents.The village has a seasonal checkpoint that blocks the road to the agricultural land and this checkpoint opens once a year! 2,500-3,000 dunams were stolen from the village in order to build the settlements of Revava and Netafim, which are located west of Haris.
The center of the village is Area B and around Area C. The population grows but the occupation does not permit new construction in Area C.
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Kifl Harith
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Kifl Harith
This is a Palestinian located north-west of the settler-colony town of Ariel, 18 kilometers south of the city of Nablus. It numbers 3, 206 inhabitants, as of 2007. 42% of the village lands lie in Area B, and 58% in Area C. In 1978, some hundreds of dunams of the village’s farmland was sequestered in order to found the settler-colony of Ariel – in total 5,184 dunams from the Palestinian communities of Salfit, Iscaqa, Marda, and Kifl Harith. Dozens of square kilometers were also confiscated for paving road no. 5 as well as road 505 and their buffer zones, and the Israeli electricity company’s power station. Over the years the village has suffered harassment by sometimes-armed settler-colonists, even casualties. In 1968 the army’s rabbinate ruled the maqam site Nabi Yanoun (sanctified grave of the Prophet Yanoun) is in fact the tomb of Joshua, Son of Nun. Another structure in the village, named Nabi Tul Kifl by the Palestinians, has been identified by the Israeli authorities as to the tomb of Caleb, Son of Yefuneh. These sites are located in the heart of the village, near the mosque, and at times of Jewish religious festivities and pilgrimages, the center of the village is illuminated by projectors and thousands of Jews arrive, protected by hundreds of Israeli soldiers. During such a period, a night curfew is imposed on the village and the villagers are forced to stay shut inside their homes.
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Za'tara (Tapuah)
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Za'tara (Tapuah) Za'tara is an internal checkpoint in the heart of the West Bank, at the intersection of Road 60 and Road 505 (Trans-Samaria), east of the Tapuah settlement. This checkpoint is the "border" marked by the IDF between the north and south of the West Bank, in accordance with the policy of separation between the two parts of the West Bank that has been in place since December 2005. At the Za'tara checkpoint, there are separate routes for Israelis and Palestinians. In the route for Israelis, there are no inspections and the route for Palestinians inspects. The queue lengthens and shortens suits. The checkpoint is open 24 hours a day. The checkpoint is partially staffed and the people who pass through it are checked at random.Shoshi AnbarSep-27-2023Za'atra (Tapuah Intersection). Signs
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