‘Azzun, Eliyahu Crossing, Falamiya, Kufr Jammal
Falamya
One of our meetings in towns and villages was with M. from Falamya; we wanted to see the new gate.
10:45 Eliyahu checkpoint. Traffic flows in both directions.
The army jeep at the entrance to ‘Azzun is parked on the left today. Four soldiers nearby.
11:00 ‘Azzun. We drop off parcels at Z.’s shop.
11:45 We stop at Z’s shop in Kafr Jamal. He offers to accompany us to Falamya.
11:45 Falamya. We meet M., who invites us to his home.
The route of the separation fence erected on lands belonging to Jayyus and Falamya, has negatively impacted the lives and incomes of 4,000 Palestinians, cut them off from their agricultural lands and severely undermined their rights. The route was designed to allow the settlements in the area to expand rather than for security needs.
As a result of a Supreme Court decision the fence was recently moved, 2,500 dunams were again included on the West Bank side. Access to them is unrestricted, but 6,000 dunams are still on the other side.
The former gate was open twelve hours a day and allowed people to access their lands and return to their villages. The new gate opens thrice a day (morning, afternoon and evening) for half an hour each time. That’s very hard on the farmers. Someone leaving in the morning for two hours of work can’t return home when he’s finished; he must wait a long time for the gate to open in the afternoon.
The relocation of the fence has made things much easier for our host, some of whose lands are now on his side. Formerly he had to ride to his land to irrigate it in the evening and remain there until morning when the gate opened. Now he rides a bicycle and returns home when he’s finished.
Olive harvest permits are supposed to arrive tomorrow (17.9) from Qalqilya.
Z. from Kafr Jamal says that the army issues olive harvest permits valid for only one week. He has land near Sla’it and Tsur.
We drive to see and photograph the new Falamya gate.
People have gathered at the shed near the electric pump. Representatives of Oxfam arrived with women from the village as part of their work to empower women (Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries to find sustainable solutions to problems and injustice. The ultimate goal of Oxfam’s activity is to allow people to exercise their rights and live their lives. Oxfam works directly with the affected communities and hopes to have a significant effect on the ability of the poor to improve their incomes and lives, and have their views heard by those making decisions affecting them).
The locals gather around us, describing the plague of wild boars which rest by day and are active at night. Every few months the “nature people” (the Israel Nature and Parks Authority?) arrive with a truck filled with wild boars, the army opens the gate and dozens of starving boars invade their fields and destroy the crops. Some of the females are pregnant; each bears a large litter. The damage is great. A catastrophe in cooperation with the army.
We refer them to Yesh Din and promise to follow up.
Our host tells us that when he went to irrigate his field yesterday a boar attacked him and he had to kill him with his hoe.
13:30 Eliyahu crossing. Traffic flows. Five cars are in the inspection area. We didn’t see dogs. We weren’t stopped for inspection despite our banner.
Habla. Everyone arriving goes through quickly.
'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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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 placeKufr Jammal
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Kufr Jammal This village, rising about 200 meters over sea level, is located about 14 kilometers south of Tul Karm town and about 17 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. The families living there since the mid-18th century number about 3,000 persons at present. The village has lost thousands of dunams of its northern and western lands due to the construction of the Separation Barrier, leaving the lands themselves behind the barrier. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruling in 2011, the barrier was moved to the west and many farmlands were returned to their owners. It is a quiet village, its relations with the nearby settler-colony of Sal’it are favorable, and many of the villagers work in the colony’s industrial plants. Farmers cross the agricultural checkpoint close to this settler-colony in order to tend their fields unhampered. However, there are numerous acts of harassment and disorder taking place when the village farmers cross the other agricultural checkpoints: gates do not open at hours suitable to the farmers’ needs, and for a short period of time only; the Civil Administration usually prevents all kinds of crops except olives; tractors and other farm equipment are forbidden entry; only a single permit is issued per family, and occasionally such permits are confiscated and their re-issue is delayed – the common excuse is usually “security reasons”. How do the villagers make their living? Holders of work permits inside Israel travel at 3 a.m. to Eyal Checkpoint near Qalqiliya town in order to make it on time to their workplace at Sal’it (close to their village) and elsewhere. Owners of vegetable patches who hold permits are allowed to reach their fields beyond the Separation Barrier through the distant Falamiya Checkpoint. Importantly, fields returned to the village show amazing improvement intending, irrigation and farming variety – and instead of the neglected olive tree groves that were accessible only to holders of transit permits through agricultural checkpoints usually closed, farming has now flourished. (updated Jan 2021)
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