Azzun, Beit Iba, Jit, Mon 20.10.08, Afternoon
Beit Iba
A taxi driver explained to Bilha another reason for the vulgar behaviour of the soldiers at the checkpoint. "They see tons of students going back to university and they are jealous." What a human point of view he still has after 6 years at the checkpoints.
14.20 The checkpoint is quiet. Closure. The pedestrians entering Nablus are not checked. Cars also are only stopped for the soldier to see the driver but no checking. Buses are checked without the passengers having to alight. The young people have IDs taken and checked quickly. As opposed to other days we see two cases in which young people taken older people through the fast lane are allowed. There is of course the other option of returning the young people to the usual line but this time the more sensible way is adopted.
At the crossroads of Jit is a military vehicle. Cars coming from the east are checked.
At the area of Qedumim military cars on both sides of the road. Later we saw people with full sacks on the side of the road and supposed that this time the soldiers who usually protect the settlers are protecting the olive pickers.
Azzun is again blocked with high dirt mounds.
'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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Beit Iba
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A perimeter checkpoint west of the city of Nablus. Operated from 2001 to 2009 as one of the four permanent checkpoints closing on Nablus: Beit Furik and Awarta to the east and Hawara to the south. A pedestrian-only checkpoint, where MachsomWatch volunteers were present daily for several hours in the morning and afternoon to document the thousands of Palestinians waiting for hours in long queues with no shelter in the heat or rain, to leave the district city for anywhere else in the West Bank. From March 2009, as part of the easing of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, it was abolished, without a trace, and without any adverse change in the security situation.
Jun-4-2014Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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Jit Junction
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The checkpoint is located on Route 60 near at the junction with Route 55, near the village of Jit. There was a checkpoint for vehicles passing between the north and south of the West Bank, which was abolished towards 2010. Since then, surprise checkpoints have been set up there from time to time with a police or Border Police vehicle, and vehicles and their passengers are inspected.
Anat PolakJul-17-2025Yitzhar Road, Jit Junction: traffic jam
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