‘Azzun, Eliyahu Crossing, Jayyus, Kufr Jammal
11:00 Eliyahu checkpoint
3-4 cars in the inspection area, a few trucks in the farthest lane next to the inspection station toward Israel.
Right beyond the checkpoint police officers are carefully inspecting a large truck of the Lehavim fire protection company.
We stop to photograph the entry road to Izbet Tabib after the roadblock had been removed; the IDF placed it two weeks ago as punishment for rock throwing from the other side of Highway 55. The large boulders and concrete blocks sit on the roadside. The distant hills are still covered with snow.
We drive to 'Azzun to unload parcels for our friend Z. who’s planning to go to Rambam hospital (to be examined before deciding on a new procedure) with his wife and little son, with Tzvia’s help, of course.
12:33 We arrive at the northern Jayyus gate, which is closed and locked, with no sign (the sign with the number of the gate was apparently removed); a red sign warning of deathly danger lies on the ground. There’s no information, of course, about the hours the gate is open. Opposite, slightly to the north, a few pieces of heavy equipment are employed erecting the new fence and the security road along its length.
13:00 Kafr Jimal. We drop by Z’s to learn what’s new. He complains he hasn’t free access to 90% of his lands beyond the fence. Though he has a permit to cross through Falamiya, that’s far away. The new fence, which is supposed to bring lands from the seam zone to within the area of the fence, is stealing more of his land. He says that even during the olive harvest the five gates allowing farmers from Kafr Jimal easier access to their land didn’t open. The only way to reach them was through the Sla’it checkpoint, and only on foot, or at most with a donkey, but not with a tractor or other vehicle. He wants there to be peace and brotherhood, a chance for all to make a living. His daughter, a young mother of two, said she’s learning English and English literature at university. She wants to be an English teacher but knows she won’t find work “here.” We ask whether she’d work in another village; she says there are no jobs anywhere in Palestine. Her husband graduated from university as a sports teacher and now works in construction in Israel to earn a living.
13:50 Eliyahu gate. Many cars are in the inspection area.
14:00 We decided not to enter Habla on the way back; a large police vehicle was parked at the junction and we couldn’t turn 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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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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Jayyus North (935)
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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